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•M- AT^ OF THE 

CITY or MEXICO 

AUTHOKIZED FOB PUBLICATION WITH 

THE MEXICAN GUIDE 



REFERENCES. 



HipAlito, San I. 114 

Hospital Real (ProlcsiaiU)T. 6q 
Incs, Sw. (Segrado Cora- 

zon) O. 45 

Jesus Muria O. 33 

Jesus Naz.-ireno V. 109 

Jos6, San T. 5 

Jos6 lie Gricia, San (Prot- 
estant) V, 3S 

Juan Uc Dios, San I. 71 

Juan do la Pcni 

San.. R. 34 

Lazaro, S,nn P. 71 

Lorenzo, Son j. 34 

Lorcto N. 38 

Lftcas, San W. 47 

Maria de los Angeles, 



Maria la Rcdonib, Sta. . .H. 9 

Miguel. San. V. a 

MonscTrata V. 4S 

Nicolfts, San Z. 67 

Pablo, San X. 10 

Pablo, S, (Hospi'l Chapel).X. 

Palma, Sanio Tomas la. . .Z. 

Pedro S.. and S. Pablo. ...X.. 

Porta CaH.... M. 

Pcofcsa, La K. 

Rcgina Cceli T. 

Romha. La S. 

Rosario. El P. 

SaltoUcl Agua T. 

S.alvaJor el Seco, San U. 

Salvador el Verde, San,,\V, 

Santiago Tlaltololco D, 

Santlsima, La O, 

Sebastian, San N 

Segrado Corazon (Sta, 
Inis) O 

Semlnario iSan Camilo). .V 

Tlaxcoaque W. 49 

Teresa la Antigua, Stn, . .M, 

Teresa In Nucva, Sin..O,, N. 

Tomas la Palma. Sio Z. 56 

Trinidad (Protcsiani).. 

Vera Crui, Sia 



Buildings. 
Academiadc Bellas Artes.O. 103 

Aduana D. 131 

Asilo dc Mcndigos F. 134 

Asilo para NiHos L. riS 

Biblioteen Nacional V. 103 

Biblioteca del Cinen de 

Mayo K. 31 

Dipuiados K. 120 

■Ic Helen S. n6 

Casa dc Corrcos M. 94 

Casa de Maternidad L 108 

Casa de Moncda L. 93 

Ciudadcla R. 130 

CilegiodcS.IIdefonso.M.L. 96 
ConeglodolSeminario...V. 99 

La O. 107 

Ditigcncias Gcncrales K. 139 

Diputacion ..M. 133 

Escueb dc Comcrcio K. loi 

Eacuolo. do Mctliclnu ^Ex 
Inquisition) 

Hosplcio dc Pobrcs L 106 

46 1 Hospital del Divino S.tl' 
56 



70 I Hospital do Jesus V. 109 

Militar V. 113 

36 I ■■ dc San Andres. .K. no 
de San Hip6lUo..L 114 
" dc San Juan de 

Dios L 7a 

Hospital de San Pablo 

(Juarez) X. iia 

Mincria.La K. 97 

intc dc Piedad M. 9S 

Museo Nacional M. 93 

Palacio dc Justicia M. 

Palaclo Nacional M. 

Tcatro Arbeu T. 

" Hidalgo V. 

" Nacional K. 

" Principal K. 

Univcrsidad Antigua M. 104 

Vizcainos 1 

RAII-WAV STATinNS. 

Inlcroccanic (Irolo) Pernlvillo. C. 
Inlcrocoanic (Moretos) Sun 

Mexican (Vera Cruil Bueiia 

VVfltB G.' 

Mexican Central, nuonaVlsift.G, 
Mexknu Natioual, Colonla.. ..Q. 




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iIl<!^:s^)^i$«gi6«i^Hgi^:^4^ii:»v 



THE 



Mexican Guide 



BY 



THOMAS A. JANVIER 



»> 



WITH TWO MAPS 

I.— THE CITY OF MEXICO 
II.— ENVIRONS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO 



NEW EDITION 




NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1887 



Copyright, 1885, 1887, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



TROW'9 

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANV; 

NEW YORK. 



PREFACE. 



In the present edition of The Mexican Guide the 
greater part of the material, fully two-thirds, is new. 
The work has been recast into a shape that renders it 
more available for ready use ; and that also provides for 
the requisite annual revision, and for the expansion that 
from time to time will be necessary. I shall be very 
grateful for suggestions in regard to changes or ad- 
ditions which those who use the Guide may consider 
necessary ; and still more grateful for coiTections of the 
errors which, in spite of the care exercised to assure 
accuracy, may be found in my work. Letters should 
be addressed in care of Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, 
743 Broadway, New York. 

Excepting in archaeology, where I have been guided 
mainly by the conclusions of Mr. A. F. Bandelier, mj'' 
authorities are almost exclusively Mexican. I have 
drawn freely upon the works of the late eminent his- 
torian Senor Manuel Orozco y Berra, and upon the 
w^fks of Senor Antonio Garcia Cubas. In ecclesiasti- 
cal history I have been guided by the chronicles of 



IV PREFACE. 

Fray Agustin de Vetancnrt, Fray Baltazar de Medina, 
Fray Isidro Felix de Espinosa, Fray Alonso de la Eea, 
Fray Francisco de Pare j a, and by the works of Seiior 
Luis Alfaro y Pina, Seiior Manuel Ramirez Aparicio, 
the Canonigo Jose Guadalupe Eomero, P. Francisco de 
Florencia, and the curious "Escudo de Armas de Mexi- 
co " of the Presbitero D. Cayetano de Cabrera y Quin- 
tero. In matters relating to the general history and 
customs of the Catholic Church I have been guided by 
"The Cathohc Dictionary," by the Eev. WilHam E. Ad- 
dis and Thomas Arnold, M.A. ; and in church statistics 
and details of church organization in Mexico b}"" the 
works of the Presbitero, Br. Fortino Hipolito Vera, 
Cura Vicario Foraneo de Amecameca, to whom I am 
further indebted for valuable assistance and advice. 

In the preparation of the summary of Mexican his- 
tory I have been guided mainly by the three school 
histories, written from different political standpoints, 
of the Seiiores Julio Zarate, J. M. Eoa Barcena, and 
Manuel Payno. In the case of the war with the United 
States these authorities have been collated with the 
sketch of that war by Mr. Brantz Mayer ; and in the 
case of the French Intervention with the "Mexique 
Ancien et Modeme " of M. Michel Chevalier, the con- 
temporary essays and summaries of events in the Revue 
des Deux Mondes, and various contemporary pamphlets 
published in Mexico and in France. Minor authorities 
are cited in the text, or in notes, as they are used. 



PREFACE. V 

I am under great obligations to tlie Exmo. 6 Illino. 
Sr. Dr. D. Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Davalos, 
Archbishop of Mexico, for assistance in prosecuting my 
ecclesiastical researches. I am under obligations also 
to General Carlos Pacheco, Minister of Public Works, 
for permission to republish the accompanying official 
maps of the City of Mexico and environs of the City 
of Mexico ; to the late United States Envoy to Mexico, 
the Hon. Henry R. Jackson, for his very courteously 
given aid in procuring me this privilege ; to Don Gail- 
lermo Prieto, and to the Rev. Father Agustin Fischer, 
for advice and assistance in obtaining the several works 
of reference required in preparing the following pages. 

And most of all am I (very happily) under obligations 
to my wife, without whose assistance — not only in 
translating and in proof-reading, but in the difficult 
work of searching and collating original authorities — '■ 
The Mexican Guide assuredly never would have been 

prepared. 

T. A. J. 

New Yobk, January 1, 1887. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 
GENEEAL INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

I. — Mexico : Geographical Limits, Physical Feat- 
ures, Climate, Coasts and Harbors, Plains, 
Mountain-peaks, Lakes, Animal-life, Vege- 
table Products, Mineral Products, Manu- 
factures, Foreign Commerce, Political Di- 
visions and Population 3 

n. — Constitution AND Government : Constitution, 
Government, Taxation, Army, National 
Festivals 15 

in. — Religion : Roman Catholic, The Religious Or- 
der in Mexico, The Inquisition, Protest- 
antism, Protestant Missions 19 

IV.— Education 32 

V. — Language and Literature 34 

VI. — Historical Summary: Primitive Mexico, Pe- 
riod OF THE Conquest, Viceregal Period, 
Revolutionary Period, Independent Mexi- 
co, The War with the United States, The 
French Intervention 41 



Viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

VII. — Practical Information : What to see in Mex- 
ico, When to go to Mexico, By Eail to 
Mexico, By Sea to Mexico, By Sea and Rail, 
Choosing a Route, Expenses, Exchange, 
Mexican Money, Mexican Measures, Kilo- 
metres AND Miles, Passports, Customs Reg- 
ulations, Lunch-basket, Eating, Exercise, 
Porters and Stewards, Pulque, Wine, 
Spirits, Beer, Sweetmeats, Clothing, Doc- 
tors AND Medicines, Cargadores, Servants, 
Fees, Baths, Hotels, Restaurants, Official 
Permits, Church Visiting, Priestly Aid, 
Beggars, Hackney Coaches, Postal Ar- 
rangements, Telegraph, Express Service, 
At El Paso, Coming Home 77 



PART 11. 

THE MEXICAN CAPITAL. 

I. — Practical Matters: Station to Hotel, Lug- 
gage, Hotels, Restaurants, Lodgings, 
Boarding-houses, Baths, Interpreters, 
Shopping, Tradespeople, Mending, Libra- 
ries, Book-stores, Newspa'pers, Post-office, 
Telegraph Offices, Railway Stations and 
Offices, Diligence Office, Express Offices, 
Hackney Coaches, Saddle Horses, Street 
Railways, Suburban Tramways (Guada- 
lupe, Tacubaya, Dolores, Mixcoac, La Cas- 
taneda. La Piedad, San Angel, Tlalpam, 
Tlalnepantla, Atzcapotzalco), Govern- 
ment Officials, Foreign Legations, Pro- 
testant Churches 101 

II.— Streets of the City of Mexico 125 

in, — Municipality of Mexico : Site, Climate, His- 
tory, Statistics, Diputacion, Markets, The 
Flower Market, Port ales, Prisons 134 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX 

PAGE 

IV. — Federal Buildings : Palacio Nacional, Ca- 

MARA DE DiPUTADOS, PALACIO DE JuSTICIA, 
AllZOBISPADO, ClUDADELA, ADUANA, CASA DE 
MONEDA 140 

V. — Public Institutions : Biblioteca Nacional, 
Other Libraries, Escuela Nacional de Bel- 
las Artes, Museo Nacional 144 

VI. — Religious Foundations : The Cathedral, Ca- 

PILLA DE LAS ANIMAS, PARISH CHURCHES, SA- 
GRARIO METROPOLITANO, CAPILLA DE LA So- 

LEDAD, San Pablo, San Sebastian, Santa 
Maria la Redonda, Santa Vera Cruz, Santa 
Cruz Acatlan, Santa Cruz y Soledad, 
Santo Tomas la Palma, San Cosme, Santa 
Catarina Martir, Santa Ana, Regina Cceli, 
San Miguel, San Jose, San Francisco, Sant- 
iago Tlaltelolco, Santo Domingo, Porta 
Cceli, San Hipolito, Espiritu Santo, Loreto, 
Merced, Belen de los Padres, San Diego, 
Carmen, Monserrate, San Juan de Dios, 
San Lazaro, San Antonio Abad, Profesa, 
Betlemitas, Colegio de las Ninas, San Fer- 
nando, San Camilo, Concepcion, Balvanera, 
Santa Clara, Jesus Marla., San Geronimo, 
Santa Catalina de Sena, San Juan de la 
Penitencia, Encarnacion, San Lorenzo, 
Santa Ines (Corazon de Jesus), Santa Ysabel, 
San Jose de Gracia, Santa Teresa la An- 
tigua, Santa Teresa la Nueva, San Ber- 
nardo, Capuchinas, Corpus Christi, Santa 
Brigida, Ensenanza Antigua, Ensenanza 
Nueva, College of the Sisters op Charity 
(Caridad), Independent Churches, Jesus 
Nazareno, Nstra. Sra. de los Angeles, San- 
TisiMA, Salto del Agua 164 

Vn. — Schools and Colleges : Conservatorio de 
MusiCA (University), La Mineria, Escuela 
DE Medicina, Escuela Prbparatoria, Es- 



TABLE OF CONTEiq^TS. 

PACK 
CUELA DE AGRICULTURA, EsCUELA DE COMER- 
CIO, ESCUELA DE JURISPRUDENCIA, SeMINARIO 
CONCILIAR, SOCIEDAD LANCASTERIANA, LA 

Benbficencia, Sociedad Catolica 247 

VIII. — Charitable Institutions: Hospital de Jesus 
Nazareno, Hospital Real, Hospital de San 
HiPOLiTO, Hospital Morelos (San Juan de 
Dios), Hospital del Divino Salvador, Hos- 
pital DE San Andres, Hospital Municipal 
Juarez (San Pablo), Casa de Maternidad, 
Hospital Concepcion Beistigui, Other Hos- 
pitals, La Cuna, Hospicio de Pobres, Monte 

DE PlEDAD, COLEGIO DE LA PAZ (ViSCAINOS), 

Other Charities 254 

IX. — Public Entertainment: Teatro Principal, 
Teatro Nacional, Other Theatres, Salon 
de conciertos, circus, bull-fighting 269 

X. — Public Works: Plaza Mayor, Alameda, Paseo 
DE LA ViGA, Paseo de Bucareli, Paseo de la 
Reforma, Calzadas (Causeways), Aque- 
ducts 272 

XL — ^Various Matters of Interest : Public Monu- 
ments, Notable Buildings, Panteones (Cem- 
eteries), Salto de Alvarado 283 

XII. — Environs of Mexico: Guadalupe, Chapulte- 

PEC, MOLINO DEL REY, TACUBAYA, MiXCOAC, 

La Castaneda, San Angel, Coyoacan, The 
Pedregal, Churubusco, Tlalpam, Popotla 
(Tree of the Noche Triste), Tacuba, Atz- 
CAPOTZALCO, La Piedad 290 

XIII.— Short Excursions from Mexico: The Viga 
Canal (Santa Anita, Ixtacalco, Mexical- 
cingo), The Desierto, San Juan Teotihuacan 
(Pyramids op the Sun and Moon), Texcoco, 
Tetzcotzinco, Molino de Flores, Cuatlen- 
chan, Tlalnepantla, Tajo de Nochistongo 317 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 



PART III. 
PROVINCIAL IVIEXICO. 

PAGE 

I. — The Mexican Railway 333 

II. — The Mexican Central Railway 343 

in. — The Mexican National Railway 851 

IV. — The Interoceanic Railway 363 

V. — Minor Lines op Travel : Railways, Dili- 
gence Lines, Coastwise Steam Lines 366 

VI. — PUEBLA DE LOS AnGELES , 370 

Vn.— Cholula 393 

VIIL— Tlaxcala 397 

IX. — ^Zacatecas 404 

X. — Agtjas Calientes 409 

XI. —Leon 411 

xn.— Guanajuato 414 

Xin. — Queretaro 421 

XIV.— Vera Cruz 429 

XV.— Jalapa 433 

XVL— Orizaba 436 

XVII.— Pachuca and Real del Monte 441 

XVIII. — Los Remedios 445 



Xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XIX.— San Miguel de Allende 450 

XX.— MoEELiA 455 

XXI.— Patzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan 463 

XXII. — Monterey 470 

XXIII.— Cuernavaca 475 

XXIV.— Amecameca 479 

XXV.— Minor Cities and Towns : Acambaro, Celaya, 
Chihuahua, Cordoba, Cuautla (Yautepec), 
GuAYMAs, Lagos, Maravatio, Merida, Sal- 
TiLLO, Salvatierra, Silao, Toluca, Tula. . . 485 



PART I. 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



PAET I. 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 

7. MEXICO. 

Geographical Limits. The shape of Mexico is that of a 
cornucopia turned the wrong way — and the relatively slow de- 
velopment of the extraordinarily rich region embraced with- 
in its borders emphasizes this simile. It extends from the 
15th to the 32d degree of north latitude, and from the 86th 
to the 116th degree of longitude west from Greenwich. Its 
northern and northeastern boundary is the United States 
(Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) ; its western, 
the Pacific Ocean ; its southern, the Pacific Ocean, Guate- 
mala, and the English colony of Belize ; its eastern, Belize, 
the Carribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Its greatest 
leQgth, from northwest to southeast, is 1,900 miles ; its 
greatest width, 750 miles. Its superficial area is 768,500 
square miles.* 

Physical Features. Saving a narrow rim of land upon 
its coasts, Mexico is an enormous ridge, raised by volcanic 
force, between two oceans. This ridge is a continuation 
northward of the Andes. In the Isthmus of Panama, where 
its dimensions are least, the ridge is a mass of granite, vary- 
ing from 150 to 900 feet in elevation above the sea. It runs 
west toward the shores of the Pacific, sending off, in Guate- 

. * Trustworthy statistics concerning Mexico are not obtainable. The 
figures used in this book are from the sources (usnally cited m the text 
or in a note) that are recognized in Mexico as most authoritative. 



4 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

mala a branch northeast throngh the peninsnla of Yucatan. 
On entering Mexico it trends northwest and acquires a 
greater breadth. The State of Oaxaca may be said to occupy 
the summit of a single ridge, 150 miles wide, that falls rap- 
idly on one side to the shores of the Pacific, and on the other 
side descends by a succession of terraces to Tabasco and 
Vera Cruz. To this elevated, comparatively narrow plain 
succeeds the so-called table-land of Mexico, spreading al- 
most from ocean to gulf, and having an elevation of between 
4,000 and 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. Above this 
plateau rise the crests of the great volcanic ridge, still con- 
tinuing northward. The main chain of mountains is known 
as the Sierra Madre. North of the 21st parallel three well- 
defined ranges extend. The middle range joins, finally, the 
Rocky Mountains ; as does also the western, after making a 
wide loop to the westward ; the eastern sinks away gradu- 
ally as it approaches the Rio Grande. Humboldt's fancy for 
striking statement led him to write that a wagon could be 
driven along the elevated plateau from the City of Mexico to 
Santa Fe. This is true ; but what a desperately up-and- 
down time of it the driver of that wagon would have may be 
seen by reference to the following table of elevations above 
sea-level on the line of the Mexican Central Railway — a line 
that has far easier grades than would have been possible on 
Humboldt's theoretical route. 



stations. Feet. 

Paso del Norte 3,717.40 

GaUego 5,448.40 

Chihuahua 4.683.40 

8anta Rosalia 4,022.40 

Jimenez 4,.531.40 

Lerdo 3,725.40 

Jimulco 4,157.40 

Calera 7,051.30 

Zacatecas 8,044.50 

Aguas Calientes 6,179.50 



Stations. Feet. 

Lagos 6,134.50 

Leon 5,863.60 

Queretaro 5,904.50 

San Juan del Rio 6,345.10 

Cazadero 7,323.70 

Marquez 8,132.70 

Tula 6,658.40 

Huehuetoca 7,407. 90 

Mexico 7,349.80 



Climate. Lying partly within the tropical and partly 
within the temperate zone, and possessing so curious a physi- 
cal formation, Mexico has three well-defined climates : hot 



MEXICO. 5 

in the tie7'7'a caliente, or hot lands of the coast ; temperate, in 
the tiei^'a templada, or region lying at an elevation of be- 
tween 3,000 and 6,000 feet above the level of the sea ; cold, 
in the iierra fria, or regions lying at an elevation of more 
than 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. These several 
climates are modified further by latitude. The "cold" re- 
gion of the north really is cold, while the cold region of the 
south is cold only by comparison with the very hot climate 
found near it at a lower level. The mean thermometer (Fah- 
renheit) in the hot lands is 80° ; in the temperate lands, 70° ; 
in the cold lands, 60°. The extremes are about 100° in the 
hot lands, and about 20° in the cold lands. In the temper- 
ate lands of about the latitude of the City of Mexico the 
mercury generally ranges between 65° and 75° the year 
round. The year is divided into two seasons : the dry sea- 
son, from November to May ; the rainy season, from June to 
October. During the rainy season rain usually falls late 
every afternoon and in the night. The mornings usually 
are sparklingly clear and the air deliciously fresh and cool. 
The climate of Mexico, as a rule, is pleasant and healthful. 
The exceptions to this rule are found in summer in the hot 
lands of the coast, where fevers of various sorts usually pre- 
vail ; and, to a less serious extent, at all seasons of the year 
in the damp Valley of Mexico. 

Coasts and Harbors. On the east coast of Mexico the 
great current of the Atlantic Ocean sweeps around the penin- 
sula of Yucatan and through the Gulf of Mexico, causing a 
continual extension of the beach, increase of sand-banks, 
barring of river mouths. On the whole Gulf coast there is 
no bay of any importance ; no good harbor easy of access, 
nor any sheltered anchorage. - Excellent harbors might be 
made, however, by removing the bars that block the en- 
trances to the lagunas of Terminos, Santa Ana, Madera, 
Tamiahua, and Tampico. On the west coast the highlands 
approach the sea-shore, and the coast-lands, relatively, are 
high. On this coast are the excellent harbors of Acapulco 
and San Bias — two of the finest harbors in the world — and 
the very fair harbors of Guaymas, ManzanillOj Mazatlan, 



6 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

and several smaller ports in which good anchorage and pro- 
tection are found. 

Plains. Upon the so-called table-land of Mexico are sev- 
eral great plains, which reallj are nearly as level as the whole 
of the Mexican "plateau "is supposed to be. The more 
notable of these are : the Bolson (great pocket) of Mapimi, 
between the States of Coahuila and Chihuahua, a vast desert, 
marshy region ; the Bajio, in Guanajuato, a fertile plain 
yeilding great crops of cereals ; the Cazadero, in Queretaro 
and Hidalgo, affording excellent pasturage (named the Ca- 
zadero, place of hunting, because here was organized a great 
hunt by the Indians in honor of the Viceroy Mendoza) ; the 
plains of Apam, in Hidalgo and Tlaxcala, celebrated for 
maguey plantations and for the production of peculiarly fine 
pulque ; the great arid j^lain of San Juan, in the State of 
Puebla ; the Salada, a sterile desert in which some small salt 
lakes are found, in San Luis Potosi. 

Mountain Peaks. Eising above the mountain ranges 
are certain notable peaks. The elevations in feet (approxi- 
mate) of these, and the States in which they are found, are 
given in the following table : 

Popocatepetl, States of Mexico and Vera Cruz 17,783 

Orizaba, or Citlaltepetl, State of Vera Cruz 1 7,356 

Ixtaccihuatl, States of Mexico and Puebla 16,060 

Nevado de Toluca, or Xinantecatl, State of Mexico 15,000 

Nevado de Colima, State of Jalisco 14,350 

Ajusco, Federal District 13,612 

Matlalcueyatl, or Malintzi, State of Tlaxcala 13,463 

Cofre de Perote, or Nauchampatepetl, State of Vera Cruz 13,403 

Volcan de Colima, State of Jalisco 12,728 

Pico de Tancitaro, State of Michoacan 12,653 

Cerro de Patamban, State of Michoacan 12, 390 

Zempoaltepec, State of Oaxaca 11,965 

Los Llanitos, State of Guanajuato 11,018 

Pico de Quinceo, State of Michoacan 10,895 

Gigante, State of Guanajuato 10,653 

Cerro de Culiacan, State of Guanajuato 10,640 

Las Navajas, State of Hidalgo 10,538 

Veta Grande, State of Zacatecas 9,965 

Cumbre de Jesus Maria, State of Chihuahua 8,230 

Cerro del Proano, State of Zacatecas 7,763 



MEXICO. 7 

Rivers. Altlioiigh some of the rivers of Mexico are of a 
very considerable length, they are not navigable ; nor does 
their volume materially increase from source to mouth. This 
curious constancy of volume is due partly to lack of tribu- 
taries ; partly to rapid evaporation ; partly to the tapping of 
the streams for purposes of irrigation. The more important 
rivers are : the Eio Grande, rising in Colorado and, after 
crossing New Mexico, flowing along the borders of Chihuahua, 
Coahuila, and Tamaulipas to the Gulf of Mexico, a total 
length of 1,500 miles ; the Lerma, flowing through Mexico, 
Guanajuato, Michoacan, and Jalisco to the Pacific, 540 miles ; 
the Balsas (also called the Mescala and the Zacatula) flowing 
through Tlaxcala, Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, and Michoacan 
to the Pacific, 426 miles ; the Yaqui, flowing through Sonora 
to the Gulf of California, 390 miles ; the Grijalva, rising in 
Guatemala and flowing through Chiapas and Tabasco to the 
Gulf of Mexico, 350 miles ; the Fuerte, flowing through 
Sinaloa to the Gulf of California, 340 miles ; the Uzumacinta, 
rising in Guatemala and flowing through Campeche and Ta- 
basco to the Gulf of Mexico, 330 miles. 

Lakes. West of the city of Mexico, on the Pacific slope, in 
the States of Michoacan and Jalisco, is a very beautiful lake 
region. The more important of these western lakes are : Cha- 
pala, about 80 miles long by 30 miles broad ; Cuitzeo, about 
40 miles long by 10 miles broad, and Patzcuaro, about 25 
miles long by 10 miles broad. In the Bolson of Mapimf is the 
Lake of the Caiman, upward of 30 miles long, with a number 
of smaller lakes near it ; in the Valley of Mexico are the large 
lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco (properly a single lake) ; and 
Texcoco, and the small lakes of Zumpango and San Cristobal. 
Small lakes are found in almost every part of Mexico. 

Animal Life. Although the ancient Mexicans did not 
subject to economical purposes the wild animals around 
them, Mexico at the present day is abundantly stocked with 
domesticated animals, introduced by the Spaniards. Horned 
cattle and horses have, indeed, grown wild in remote places, 
and a large part of the wealth of the country, especially in 
its northern portion, is derived from stock-ranging. The 



8 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ordinary domesticated animals of Europe— the horse, ox, 
ass, mule, sheep, goat, pig, chickens — are found everywhere ; 
the turkey is native to Mexico. Dogs are painfully numer- 
ous ; every Mexican town swarms with them. Cats, also an 
imported luxury, have taken most kindly to the land of 
their enforced adoption. Sleeker, liner, more engaging cats 
than those of Mexico are not to be found in all the world. 
The fact should be noted that in their treatment of all pet 
animals the Mexicans manifest a great tenderness. On the 
other hand, their treatment of beasts of burden usually is 
about as far removed from tenderness as anything very well 
can be. Wild animals of various sorts — bear, deer, wolves, 
jaguars, pumas, tiger-cats, and hosts of vermin — abound. A 
great variety of game-birds are found, and the waters yield 
large quantities of excellent fish and oysters. In the Gulf of 
California the pearl oyster is found. 

Vegetable Products. Under the influence of its widely 
diversified climate, Mexico's vegetable products are varied in 
the extreme. In the hot lands are forests of mahogany, 
ebony, rosewood, and other valuable hard-woods, and in the 
temperate and cold lands are found the oak, pine, and other 
forest growth of the temperate zone. The principal prod- 
ucts of cultivation are corn, beans, wheat, rice, sugar-cane, 
cofiee (the coffee of Uruapam is equal to the best Mocha), 
tobacco, cotton, cocoa, indigo, vanilla, the agave (maguey : 
producing an exceedingly valuable fibre, and yielding a juice 
from which, pulque is made), and various medicinal plants, of 
which the more important are sarsaparilla aud Jalap. Fruits, 
large and small, are cultivated ; and in the hot lands a great 
variety of tropical fruits grow wild. 

Mineral Products. Mexico's greatest source of wealth 
is her mines. Extending from Sonora to Oaxaca, a distance 
of 800 miles, is a region of extraordinary mineral richness. 
Silver, together with a relatively small amount of gold, is 
found principally in Sonora, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, San Luis 
Potosi, Guanajuato, and Hidalgo ; p]atina in Vera Cruz and 
Guerrero ; copper in Guerrero, Michoacan, Guanajuato, 
Sonora, and Lower California ; iron in Hidalgo, Guanajuato, 



MEXICO. 9 

Jalisco, and Durango — in which latter State an enormous 
mass of magnetic iron exists ; lead in Zacatecas, Sonora, 
Oaxaca, and Mexico ; tin in Guanajuato and Chihuahua ; 
zinc in Guerrero ; quicksilver in San Luis Potosi and Ta- 
basco ; cinnabar in Guanajuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Poto- 
si, and Guerrero ; alum in Puebla and Michoacan ; bismuth 
in Zacatecas ; salt in San Luis Potosi and elsewhere ; sul- 
phur in the crater of Popocatepetl ; asphalt in Tamaulipas 
and Vera Cruz ; naphtha in the Federal District. Petro- 
leum has been found in Tabasco, Oaxaca, and Vera Cruz, but 
from the fact that it remains undeveloped, the inference may 
be drawn that it is of poor quality. Thoroughly carbonized 
coal has not as yet been discovered in Mexico. The annual 
output of silver, in round numbers, is about $20,000,000. 
The output of all other minerals together probably amounts 
to five millions of dollars more each year. The total silver 
coinage in Mexico, from the establishment of the royal mint 
(1537) until the present year, probably amounts to about 
$2,500,000,000. 

Manufactures. Although surrounded by a perfect 
Chinese wall of prohibitory tariff, Mexico is very far from 
being a manufacturing country. Yet it is a fact of much 
economical and sociological importance that such manu- 
factures as the mass of the people require — cotton cloth 
{manta ), woollen blankets {zaraioes), woollen 'cloth [tejidos 
de lana), cotton shawls [rehosos), leather goods (including 
saddles, shoes, and clothing), coarse pottery [loza), hats of 
felt and of straw — all are of native production. 

Cotton goods. Of these several manufactures that of cotton 
is the most important. It is estimated that 26, 000, 000 pounds 
of cotton (the greater portion of which is grown in Mexico) 
annually is consumed, and that upward of 50,000 families 
are supx^orted (in field work and mill work) by this industry. 
The cotton-mills usually are provided with English machin- 
ery of approved type, and the business is carried on by a few 
operators upon a large scale. 

Woollen goods. Wool-spinning, on the contrary, is carried 
on (excepting the manufacture of woollen cloth) by a great 



10 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

many operators npon a small scale. Certain towns — as 
Saltillo and San Miguel de Allende — are famous for their 
manufacture of zarapes, but the work is carried on upon scat- 
tered looms, of coarse, native construction, set up singly, in 
private houses. Even Mexican statisticians, whose willing- 
ness to guess at almost anything is quite phenomenal, never 
have attempted to guess at how many zarapes are made an- 
nually in Mexico. The manufacture really is a very impor- 
tant one, for every Mexican has a zarape, that he uses as a cloak 
by day and a blanket by night — a continuous usage that must 
call for comparatively frequent renewals of this useful article. 
Woollen-mills — of which there are about a score in the Re- 
public — are capable of being handled with a certain degree 
of definiteness. That painfully exact statistician, Senor 
Garcia Cubas, tells us that three mills in the Federal District 
produce annually 162,000 pieces of cloth ; that three in the 
State of Mexico produce 150,000 pieces of cloth and floor- 
carpet ; that five in the State of Puebla produce 550,000 
pounds of yarn; that three in the State of Hidalgo produce 
125, 000 pieces of cloth ; that various mills in the State of 
Guanajuato produce 85,000 cuts of cloth, and 50,000 varas of 
floor-carpet ; that there is a woollen-mill in the City of Mex- 
ico, in the Callejon del Bosque. He thoughtfully adds that 
the cuts of cloth vary in value from $2.25 to $4.25, and that 
the floor-carpet is worth from 83| cents to $1.25 the vara. 
And this is a very fair specimen of what is supposed in Mex- 
ico to be statistical information ! 

Pottery. The third great manufacture of the country, 
coarse pottery, is carried on everywhere. In Guadalajara the 
ware is gray, or ashes-of-roses, soft-baked, unglazed but 
polished, and the finer pieces are decorated very elaborately 
in color, silver, and gold. In Zacatecas the better ware is red, 
hard-baked (something between earthenware and stoneware), 
is glazed inside and over a jDart of the outside with a thin 
glaze, and is decorated rudely but effectively with splashes 
of underglaze color ; an ordinary red earthenware, glazed 
inside, also is made. In Guanajuato the ware is hard-baked, 
though less hard and less delicate than that of Zacatecas ; 



MEXICO. 11 

usually is a dark brown or a dark green ; frequently is or- 
namented with figures in low relief ; usually has a soft, rich 
glaze. In Puebla the liner ware is something between fine 
earthenware and coarse soft ^Dorcelain. It has a thick tin- 
glaze, and the decoration in strong color is underglaze. Ex- 
cellent glazed tiles, also, are made in Puebla ; to be seen 
in both inside and outside work in the older churches. At 
the little village of Santa Fe, not far from Patzcuaro (and 
possibly elsewhere), a very curious iridescent ware, having, 
seemingly, a copper glaze, is made. The pieces sometimes 
are decorated in low relief. In almost every village in Mex- 
ico there is a potter, and each district produces a ware hav- 
ing more or less distinctly marked characteristics. 

Otlier Manufactures. In the cane-growing regions a very 
considerable quantity of sugar is manufactured, though not 
enough to supply fully the home demand; in the tobacco 
country, and in the several cities, vast numbers of cigaritoSy 
and a large number of cigars {puros) are made ; the manufac- 
ture oij^ulqueis carried on very extensively on the plain of 
Apam, and in this maguey region the distilled liquors mezcal 
and tequila are produced ; silver is wrought in all parts of the 
country ; felfc hats are made in the principal cities and straw 
hats everywhere ; leather work is carried on in all the cities, 
but its centre is the city of Leon, where also a consider- 
able manufacture of hardware and cutlery is maintained ; a 
large business is done, though nowhere upon a large scale, 
in the manufacture of sweetmeats {dukes) ; a considerable 
quantity of chocolate, a little glass, a little paper, a little 
household furniture is manufactured. 

Foreign Commerce. Owing to the fragmentary char- 
acter and tardiness of issue of the Treasury reports, nothing 
like a complete, nor even a relatively recent, exhibit of the 
Mexican foreign trade can be given. The following tables 
will give some notion, however, of the volume and tenden- 
cies of the commerce between Mexico and foreign lands. 
The figures, extracted from Treasury returns, are those of 
Senor Garcia Cubas. 

Imports. The principal articles of importation into Mexico 



12 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



are cotton, raw and manufactured (nearly two-fifths of the 
total importation), woollens, hardware, articles of food, linen, 
and hemp. The following table shows the market-value of 
all imports for the fiscal years ending in 1874 and 1883. The 
great increase in the volume of trade came in the last two 
years of this period, and was due to the increased facilities 
for internal transportation afforded by the new lines of rail- 
way. 



From. 



England 

United States . 

France 

Germany 

Spain 

South America 

Total . . . 



1873-74. 



$12,642,062 56 
8,666,643 16 
4,878,497 29 
4,652,058 25 
1.270,496 39 
1,895,541 48 



#34,005,299 13 



1882-S3. 



#19,760,051 

18,705,488 

7,936,144 

7,591,276 

2,441,152 

361,565 



#51,795,676 



Exports. Instead of continuing this interesting compari- 
son by showing in a similar table the exports to the same 
countries for the corresponding years, Senor Cubas presents 
a table that shows, not by countries but by articles, the ex- 
ports for the fiscal years ending in 1878 and 1883. As rail- 
road building had not begun in 1878, this date is as valuable 
for purposes of comparison as 1873-74 would have been ; but 
the failure to specify the destination of the exports is a very 
serious omission. The tables are as follows : 



Articles. 


IS-JT-TB. 


1882-83. 


Precious metals 


#22,584,599 55 
6,701,061 35 


#29,628,657 69 


Other exports , 


12,178,937 66 






Total 


#29,285,660 90 


#41,807,595 35 





The articles noted as having especially increased in expor- 
tation are : Henequin, from $^1,078,076 to $3,311,062 ; cabinet 



MEXICO. 13 

woods, from $1,450,468 to $1,917,323 ; coffee, from $1,242,041 
to$l,717,190; hides, from $1,242,041 to $1,717,190; live ani- 
mals, from $30,000 to $634,370 ; caontcliouc, from $9,055 to 
$159,882. The values exported to the several countries with 
which Mexico deals, for the year ending in 1883, were : 



To England #17,258,242 61 

" United States 16,739,097 61 

" France 4,204,905 55 

" Spain 1,989,258 74 

" Germany 1,125,719 21 

" aU other countries 490,371 54 

Total ^41,807,585 26 

The general drift of all these figures is toward showing 
very conclusively that railroad building in jMexico is having 
a wonderfully stimulating effect upon Mexico's foreign com- 
merce, and toward showing that a very large portion of the 
newly-created trade is coming to the United States. One 
further fact may be cited as showing still more conclusively 
the direction of the new flow of trade : the exports from the 
port of Vera Cruz, for the three years ending respectively in 
1883, 1884, 1885, were $23,956,316, $25,119,420, and $17,067,- 
096. For these same years the exports by rail into the 
United States through, collectively, Paso del Norte, Nuevo 
Laredo, Nogales, and Piedras Negras were : $2,353,422, 
$5,583,394, and $11,421,191. 

Political Divisions and Population. In the follow- 
ing table, showing the area, assessed value, and population 
of the several States, the figures, for the most part, are ap- 
proximations. How widely this approximation varies is illus- 
trated by the two sets of figures j)rinted in parallel columns. 
One of these is from the " Cuadro Geografico, Estadistico e 
Histdrico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos " of Sefior Garcia 
Cubas, published in the office of the Minister of Public 
Works; the other is from the " Geografia de Mexico" of 
Seiior Alberto Correa, member of the Mexican Geographical 
and Statistical Society. The sum of both estimates is about 
the same, but the details have (for statistics) a truly refresh- 



14 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



ing variety. In point of fact, a complete census of Mexico 
never has been taken, nor lias the whole of the country ever 
been surveyed. 



Names of States. 


Area in 
square miles. 


Assessed 
value. 


Correa 
population. 


Cubas 
population. 


Aguas Calientes 

Campeche 


3,080 
20,760 
59,000 

2,700 
29,600 
89,200 
42,300 
12,300 
22,700 

7,600 
38,400 

8,080 
23,000 

1,850 
25,000 
28,400 
12,600 

3,800 
26,100 
36,100 
77,000 
10,000 
29,000 

1,500 
23,840 
28,400 
25,300 
530 
60,000 
450 


#5,119,693 

1,243,795 

6,274,637 

2,674,227 

3,430,212 

4,653,930 

7,057,879 

30,071,636 

1,487,167 

14,384,737 

^23,066,248 

23,391,096 

22,234,279 

15,955,515 

9,584,790 

11,741,300 

30,021,544 

10,560,483 

13,553,656 

4,607,790 

7,223,500 

3,859,558 

6,214,935 

7,045,716 

23,983,387 

4,110,455 

15,615,651 

4,355,526 
54,884,421 


140,000 
90,000 
180,000 
70,000 
240,000 
230,000 
200,000 
970,000 
350,000 
430,000 
850,000 
710,000 
780,000 
140,000 
200,000 
760,000 
790,000 
200,000 
520,000 
200,000 
150,000 
110,000 
140,000 
140,000 
580,000 
.£20,000 
430,000 
120,000 
30,000 
430,000 


140,430 
90,413 


Coahuila 


144,594 
72.591 


Colima 


Chiapas 


242,029 
225,251 


Chihuahua 


Durango 


196,852 


Guanajuato 

Guerrero 


968,113 
353,193 


Hidalgo 


434,096 


Jalisco 


*983,484 
710,579 
784,108 


Mexico 


Michoacan 


Morelos 


141,565 
201,732 
761 274 


Nuevo Leon 

Oaxaca 


Puebla 


784 466 


Queretaro 

San Luis Potosi 

Sinaloa 


203,250 
516,486 
201,918 
143,924 
108 747 


Sonora 


Tabasco 


Tamaulipas 

Tlaxcala 


140,137 

138 478 


Vera Cruz 


582,441 


Yucatan 


302,315 


Zacatecas 


422,506 


Territory of Tepic . . 
Lower California . . . 
Federal District 


t 
30,198 

426,804 


Totals 


778,590 


1368,357,763 


10,500,000 


10,451.974 



* 



Including Tepic. 



t Included in Jalisco. 



COJS^STITUTION AND GOVEKNMENT. 15 



11. COJSrSTITUTIOJSr AND GOVERNMENT* 

Constitution. In virtue of the Constitution adopted 
February 5, 1857, the Eepublic is formed of States free and 
sovereign, so far as concerns their internal affairs, united 
under a Federal government. The national i^ower resides 
essentially and primarily in the people, from whom emanates 
all public authority, and by whom this authority is exercised 
through the channels of State and National Governments : 
with the reservation, so far as State authority is concerned, 
that the laws of the State shall not conflict with the laws of 
the Nation. All persons born in the Bepublic are free, and 
by entering the Eepublic slaves become freemen. Freedom 
of education, freedom to exercise the liberal professions, 
freedom of thought, and the freedom of the press are guar- 
anteed — this last with the reservation that private rights and 
the public peace shall not be violated. No person may be 
obliged to work for another person without freely consent- 
ing so to work, nor without receiving just remuneration. 
The rights of petition and of association for any lawful ob- 
ject are recognized. Arms may be carried for lawful personal 
defence. Freedom of entrance to and exit from the Repub- 
lic, and of movement from place to place within the Republic, 
without passport, is guaranteed. Titles of nobility, heredi- 
tary honors and prerogatives are not recognized. The 
judgments of privileged tribunals are not recognized. Re- 
troactive laws are prohibited ; as also are the making of 
treaties for the extradition of political criminals. Search 
without warrant is prohibited. Imprisonment for debts of 
a purely civil nature is prohibited ; arrest is prohibited, save 
in the case of crimes meriting corporal punishment, as is 
also detention without trial for a longer period than three 

* This chapter has been revised by Sr. Lie. Matias Romero, Envoy 
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of 
Mexico to the United States of America. 



16 ' MEXICAN GUIDE. 

days. The rights of accused persons are guaranteed. The 
application of penalties, other than those purely correctional, 
is limited exclusively to judicial authority. Whipping, 
branding, mutilation, torture, or other infamous punishment 
is prohibited. Capital punishment for political crimes is pro- 
hibited. The death penalty only may be applied in punish- 
ment of the crimes of high treason, highway robbery, arson, 
parricide, and premeditated murder. In criminal actions three 
appeals only arejDermitted. After acquittal, a second trial for 
the same offence is prohibited. The inviolability of personal 
correspondence is guaranteed. The right of private prop- 
erty is recognized, and in the event of the condemnation of 
j)rivate property for public purposes previous indemnity, 
under prescribed forms, is guaranteed. The quartering of 
soldiers upon the private property of individuals is forbidden 
in times of peace ; and in times of war, save under the regu- 
lations established by law. Civil and ecclesiastical corpora- 
tions are not permitted to acquire landed estates. Monopo- 
lies are prohibited ; saving the Government monopolies of 
coinage and postal traffic, and the limited monoj)oly enjoyed 
by patentees of useful inventions. The President, with the 
concurrence of his Cabinet, and with the approval of Con- 
gress, should Congress be in session, or of the Congressional 
Standing Committee, should Congress not be in session, is 
permitted to suspend the Constitutional guarantees : in case 
of invasion ; of gi'ave internal disorder, or other serious dis- 
turbance that endangers the State. All children born of 
Mexican parents, either within or without the Republic ; all 
naturalized citizens ; all foreigners who have acquired land 
within the Republic ; all foreigners who have begotten chil- 
dren by Mexican mothers — saving, in each of these cases, 
when a distinct claim of citizenship elsewhere is avowed in 
due legal form — are regarded as Mexican citizens. As such 
they are liable to military service and to taxation, and are 
guaranteed all the peculiar rights and privileges which 
Mexican citizens enjoy. All persons within the Republic, 
with or without citizenship, are guaranteed the protection 
affoi'ded by the Constitution and laws. 



CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. 17 

The amendments, to the Constitution, adopted September 
25, 1873, establish the independence of Church and State ; 
deprive Congress of the power of making laws which estab- 
lish or suppress any religion whatever ; institute marriage 
as a civil contract ; substitute affirmation for religious oath ; 
prohibit the establishment of monastic orders, without re- 
gard to denomination or object. 

Government. Conformably to the constitutional law 
that recognizes as fundamental principles the rights of man, 
the Government of the Republic is representative, demo- 
cratic, and federal. The supreme Federal power is divided 
into three branches : legislative, executive, and judicial. 

The legislative power is lodged in the general Congress. 
This body is divided into two chambers — Senate and Cham- 
ber of Deputies — which have common and several powers. 
The members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected, indi- 
rectly, by popular vote, every two years, one deputy for each 
40,000 inhabitants, or for each fraction of more than 20,000 
inhabitants. The Senate is composed of two Senators from 
each State, elected indirectly. Half of this body is renewed 
every two years. Two sessions of Congress are held in each 
year. The first of these begins April 1st and ends May 31st. 
It may be continued, on occasion, fifteen days longer. Its 
business, primarily, is auditing the accounts of the previous 
fiscal year, and making appropriations for the fiscal year to 
come. The second session begins September 16th (the na- 
tional holiday) and ends December 16th. It may be contin- 
ued, on occasion, thirty days longer. Its business is the 
general regulation and conduct of the Federal Government. 

The executive power is lodged in the person of the Presi- 
dent, who is elected by electors, elected by popular vote 
every four years. The President is aided in the discharge 
of his duties by a Cabinet composed of six Ministers — of 
Foreign Affairs, of Internal Aft'airs, of Justice and Public In- 
struction, of Public Works, of Finance, of War and Marine — 
who severally authorize with their signatures the President's 
decrees, and who have charge of the several departments of 
the Government designated by their respective titles. 



18 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

The judicial power is lodged in the Supreme Court of 
Justice, and in the District and Circuit Courts. The Supreme 
Court consists of one Chief Justice, eleven associate justices, 
four alternate justices, an Attorney -General, and a Public 
Prosecutor. These several officers are elected by indirect 
popular vote, and remain in office for a term of six years. 
The Chief Justice formerly was the functionary appointed to 
be President in the event of a vacancy occurring, from death 
or other cause other than limitation. By the law of October 
3, 1882, the presidential succession now vests successively 
in the President and Vice-President of the Senate, and the 
Chairman of the Standing Committee of Congress. In the 
State governments an organization substantially identical 
with that of the Federal Government — legislative, executive, 
judicial — obtains. 

Taxation. The Federal Government is sustained by im- 
port duties, by the stamp tax, by the internal revenue taxes, 
and by the "Federal contribution," this last being an addi- 
tional duty levied on all taxes collected by the States. It has, 
besides, other sources of revenue — such as the export duties, 
the mint duties, and the duties on nationalized property. 

The State governments are sustained by excise duties lev- 
ied on all foreign and domestic merchandise, and by certain 
relatively small direct taxes. 

The city governments are sustained by direct taxes ; in 
some cases they receive also a percentage of the duties col- 
lected by the State. 

Army. The President is commander-in-chief of the Mex- 
ican army- The command of the army in the field usually 
is confided to a general of division. A military school is 
maintained by the Federal Government. The army is di- 
vided into three sections : the active army, the reserve, the 
general reserve. The active army consists of infantry, 
68,000 ; cavalry, 13,000 ; and a small force of artillery. The 
resei-ve consists of 24,000 men and 1,500 horses. The gen- 
eral reserve consists of 70,000 men and 10,000 horses. A 
navy is in contemplation, but as yet scarcely can be said to 
exist. 



RELIGION". 19 

National Festivals. February 5th, adoption of the 
Federal Constitution in 1857. May 5th, victory over the 
French at Puebla in 1862. May 8 th, birthday of Hidalgo. 
May 15th, fall of Queretaro and capture of Maximilian in 
1867. June 21st, capture of the City of Mexico by the Lib- 
eral forces in 1867. September 15th-16th, declaration of 
independence by Hidalgo at Dolores (the grito de Dolores) in 
1810. 

The national flag also is displayed on the birthdays of the 
kings of Spain, Germany, Italy, and Belgium, and on Febru- 
ary 22d in honor of the birth of Washington ; on the anniver- 
saries of the death of Juarez (July 18th) and of Hidalgo 
(July 30th) ; upon the days of the opening (April 1st and 
September 16th) and closing (usually May 31st and Decem- 
ber 16th) of Congress ; upon the anniversaries of the declar- 
ation of independence of the United States (July 4th), Ar- 
gentine Republic (July 9th), Colombia (July 20th), and Peru 
(July 28th) ; upon the anniversary of the fall of the Bastile 
(July 14th) ; upon the first Sunday in June, in honor of the 
adoption of the Liberal Constitution by Italy ; upon the 
birthday of the President of the Republic of Mexico. 



Ill RELIGION.'^ 



Roman Catholic. The name of the Mexican Church is 
given to that portion of the Catholic Apostolic Roman Church 
established in Mexico. The foundation of this Church was 
laid in the year 1517, when Yucatan was discovered by Cap- 
tain Don Francisco Hernandez de Cordova. This adventurer, 
one of the richest of the merchants of Cuba, sailed from that 
island, April 8, 1517, in command of an expedition consist- 
ing of "two great ships " and a shallop, having on board, all 
told, one hundred and ten men. And with these was the 
cleric Alonzo Gonzales, a native of Santo Domingo. Land 
was made near the present Cape Catoche ; and presently the 
barbarians gave battle to the Spaniards. Fifteen Spaniards 

* See also Historical Summary. 



20 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

were wounded ; bnfc, by God's mercy, fifteen of the heathen 
were slain and two were captured. In the intervals of the 
fighting the priest Gonzales bore away from a certain heathen 
temple thereabouts the idols that were therein, and when the 
fighting was ended this temple was made a Christian church, 
and was dedicated under the invocation of Nuestra Senora 
de los Remedies (Our Lady of Succor), by whose favor vic- 
tory over the barbarians had been gained. Herein, after 
being duly catechised and purged of their sin of idolatry, 
the two captive barbarians were made Christians, being bap- 
tized Melchor and Julian. And this was the first Christian 
church, and these were the first Christian converts, that ever 
were in the continental parts of the New World. 

When Cortes had completed the conquest of Tenochtitlan, 
August 13, 1521, with the news of his victory he sent to the 
Emperor an urgent request that priests should be sent from 
Spain to aid in the conversion of the heathen in the land that 
he had won. But the Emperor, being beset by certain 
doubts as to whether he could with a healthy conscience 
be lord of the newly discovered region, called together at 
his court a council composed of the most eminent doctors of 
theology and laws, to which his doubtings were confided, 
and by which, in due course, they were resolved. This, with 
the need of obtaining the Papal sanction, caused a delay of 
nearly three years in the sending of the desired religious, 
clothed with assured authority, to New Spain. Meanwhile, 
the knowledge of these many heathen waiting for a rev- 
elation of the true faith was noised abroad in Europe ; 
and three Flemish missionaries of the Franciscan order 
took upon them the duty and the joy of going forth to 
their salvation. These were Fray Juan de Tecto, guar- 
dian of the Monastery of Ghent, Fray Juan de Aora, and 
the lay brother Pedro de Gante.* Eventually, twelve 

* Fray Pedro de Gante (Ghent) was a native of Flanders, and en- 
tered the Franciscan Order, it is believed, in the Monastery of Ghent, 
He was one of the five missionaries to the Indians who came to Mexico 
in 1523 ; and of all the missionaries who came thither he was the most 
able and the most zealous. The holiness and usefulness of his life, and 



KELIGION. 21 

missionaries were sent to New Spain, amply antliorized for 
their work by the bull of Adrian VI. and by an order from 
the Emperor himself. These twelve religions, usually styled 
the "Twelve Apostles of Mexico," arrived in June, 1524, 
under the leadershij) of Fray Martin de Valencia, who bore 
from the Pope the title of Vicar of New Sjoain. A little 
after this date the project of creating the Bishopric of 
Mexico was mooted.* The mitre was offered by Charles V. 
to Fray Pedro de Gante ; and, later, having been declined by 
this holy man, it was offered to and accepted by Fray Juan 
de Zumarraga. This ecclesiastic, therefore, was presented 
by the Emperor, December 12, 1527, to Pope Clement VII. 
as Bishop of Mexico ; and in December of the year ensuing 
Zumarraga arrived at Vera Cruz, haying the title of Bishop- 
elect and protector of the Indians. He was confirmed in his 
position by the bull of September 2, 1530, by which he was 
made Bishop of Mexico, suffragan to the Archbishop of 
Seville. In the consistory held by Paul III., in 1545, the 
Mexican Bishopric was declared independent ; and by the 
bull of January 31, 1545, it was erected into an Archbishop- 
ric, of which Bishop Zumarraga was made Archbishop. In 

his Flanders birth, especially endeared and commended him to the Em- 
peror Charles V., and from this patron he received very large sums of 
money and extensive grants of land to aid him in carrying on his mis- 
sion works. The marked favor of the Emperor gave rise, in later times, 
to the assertion that the monk was the Emperor's natural son — a fiction 
that is efi^ctively disposed of by these facts : Charles V. was born in 
the year 1500. Fray Pedro de Gante came to Mexico, already a pro- 
fessed monk, in the year 1523. Consequently, he must have been bom 
some years before the birth of his alleged father. 

* The Bishopric of Yucatan was erected by the bull of Leo X., Janu- 
ary 27, 1518, and to this see was appointed the then Bishop of Cuba, th3 
Dominican Fray Julian Garces. But as the Spanish conquest just then 
was extended into Mexico, and Yucatan for the time being was aban- 
doned, Charles V. obtained from Pope Clement VII. a bull (October 
13, 1525) by which the Bishop of Yucatan, who never had entered his 
diocese, was translated to the then-created see of Puebla, with the ofiS- 
cial title of Bishop of Puebla, Yucatan, Chiapas, and Oaxaca. The 
first actual Bishop of Yucatan, as a diocese separate and distinct, was 
Fray Francisco de Torral, who was consecrated August 15, 1562. 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



1571 the Archbishop of Mexico was made Primate of New 
Spain. In the consistory held by Pius IX., March 16, 1863, 
it was decreed that the Mexican Church should be divided 
into three Archdioceses l The Eastern, or that of Mexico ; 
the Central, or that of Michoacan ; the Western, or that of 
Guadalajara. To these Archbishoprics the several Bishop- 
rics of Mexico are suffragan. The more important of the 
events leading to, attendant upon, and succeeding the very 
great curtailment in modern times of the prerogatives of the 
Church will be found in the Historical Summary. 



Dioceses, 


Erected, 


Seat. 


TO 
(D 

1 

n 

o 


2 


Archb. Mexico 

Bish. Puebla 

" Oaxaca 

*■'■ Chiapas 

" Yucata,n 

" Tabasco 

" Tulancingo 

'' Vera Cruz 

" Chilapa 

" Tamaulipas 

Archb. Michoacan . . . 
Bish. S. Luis Potosi . 

" Queretaro 

" Leon 


Jan. 31, 1545.1 
Sept. 19, 1526. 
June 2, 1.535. 
March 19, 1539. 
Aug. 15. 1562.-! 
May 25, 1880. 
March 16,186.3. 
June 1, 1850. 
March 16. 1863. 
Oct. 4, 1869. 
March 16, 1863 3 
Aug. 30, 1854. 
Jan. 26, 1862. 
Jan. 26, 1862. 
Jan. 26, 1862. 
Marchl6, 18634 
Sept. 28, 1620. 
Dec. 25, 1777. 
May 7, 1779. 
Jan. 26, 1862. 
March 15,1883. 
March 28, 18556 


Mexico. 

Puebla. 

Oaxaca. 

San Cristobal. 

Merida. 

San J . Bautista. 

Tulancingo. 

.Jalapa. 

Chilapa. 

Ciudad Victoria. 

Morelia. 

San Luis, 

Queretaro. 

Leon. 

Zamora. 

Guadalajara. 

Durango. 

Monterey. 

Culiacan. 

Zacatecas. 

Colima. 


1,654 

2,513 
+1,000 
500 
234 
134 
400 

+100 

879 

41 

+300 
171 
107 

+100 

+100 
376 
250 
135 
200 

+100 

23 

3 


1,328,000 
900.000 
700,000 
119,000 
468,000 
140,000 
400,000 
465,000 
300,000 
200,000 
680,000 
570,000 
280,000 
570 000 


" Zamora 

Archb. Guadalajara.. 
Bish. Durango 

'' Linares 

" Sonora 

* ' Zacatecas 

" Colima...,,... 
V. A. Lower California, 


220,000 
1,100,000 
490,000 
275,000 
283,000 
337,000 

5 

36^066 








Totals 






8,820 


9,861,000 



1 Erected a bishopric, September 2, 1530. * 2 The erection of January 27, 
1518, lapsed. ^ Erected a bishopric, August IS, 1536. ■* Erected a bish- 

opric, July .31, 1548. ^ Included with Guadalajara. ^ The bishopric of 

California was erected April 27, 1840, under the advocation of San Francisco. 
The Vicariate Apostolic of Lower California is the see of the titular bishop of 
Anastasiopolis, 



IIELIGION". 23 

The foregoing table is compiled from the " Catecismo 
geogrdfica-liistorico-estadistico de la Iglesia Mexicana" of 
the presbitero Br. Fortino Hipolito Vera, vicar foraueo of 
Amecameca, In this work the number of ordained priests 
is not stated. According to Senor Garcia Cubas the parish 
priests alone number 1,349. 

The Religious Orders in Mexico. A brief reference 
to the history of the religious orders in Mexico is indispen- 
sable to a good understanding of the history of the coun- 
try itself. As they severally came to the Spanish colony, 
churches, monasteries, convents, hospitals, were built, and 
throughout Mexico their work survives everywhere : visibly 
in the buildings which they erected and in the street nomen- 
clature, and morally in the impress that they have left upon 
the life of the nation. Their suppression, on the other hand, 
brought in its train the absolute destruction, or the deflec- 
tion to secular purposes, of many of their foundations, and 
the acquisition by the State of all that remained ; while the 
opening of new streets through what had been Church prop- 
erty, and the names which these streets received — as the 
Calles Independencia, Cinco de Mayo, and Lerdo, in the 
City of Mexico — mark, in a very striking manner, the end 
of the old and the beginning of the new order of things. 

To the Franciscans in great part belongs the honor of 
having fixed firmly in Mexico the x^ower of Spain ; for their 
zealous missionary work among the Indians, and the hold 
that they had upon their Indian converts, most powerfully 
strengthened the position that the Spaniards conquered and 
in part sustained by military power. To the Dominicans, in 
some small part, at least, is due the collapse of the Spanish 
domination ; for the feeling against the Inquisition unques- 
tionably had much to do with fixing many waverers on the 
side of independence. To the several orders of hospitallers 
was due the establishment of (for the times) admirably ap- 
pointed and zealously administered hospitals in every city 
of the colony. To the Jesuits belong the honor of liaving 
fostered learning in this new land. Broadly sj^eaking, the 
influence of the religious orders upon the colony was bene- 



24 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

ficial during its first century ; neutral during its second ; 
liarmful during its third. In this last epoch so considerable 
a portion of the wealth of the colony had come into posses- 
sion of the Church that the locking up of capital blocked the 
channels of trade. Leaving all other questions out of con- 
sideration, the suppression of the religious orders was an 
economic necessity in Mexico for many years before there 
was found, in the person of Juarez, a statesman bold enough 
and strong enough to institute so radical a reform. 

That the reform was executed with a certain brutal sever- 
ity is less discreditable to Mexicans in particular than to 
humanity at large. "When evil social conditions, long-fos- 
tered, at last are broken down, the radical element in the 
body-politic that asserts the right never fails to commit on 
its own account a very liberal amount of wrong. Yet all un- 
prejudiced travellers in Mexico cannot but keenly deplore, 
because of the violence done to art and learning, to the 
romantic and to the picturesque, that in the course of the 
Reformation so much of value to learning and art perished, 
and that so many buildings, deejilj interesting because of 
their historic or romantic associations, or in themselves pict- 
uresque, were diverted utterly from their primitive purposes 
or utterly destroyed. 

In point of fact, many of the religious orders in Mexico 
disappeared before the Laws of the Reform were promulgated. 
The Jesuits were suppressed June 25, 1767 ; re-established 
in 1816 ; again suppressed in 1821 ; again re-established in 
1853 ; and finally exi3elled from the country in 1856. The 
Antoninos were suppressed by a bull of Pius YI. of August 
24, 1787. By a decree of the Spanish Cortes of October 1, 
1820 (following the re-erection of the Constitution of 1812), 
executed in Mexico in 1821, the following named orders 
were suppressed: Agustinos recoletos, Hipdlitos, Juaninos, 
Betlemitas, and Benedictines. The Cosmistas (Franciscanos 
recoletos) having dwindled to but a few members, were ab- 
sorbed into the Franciscan order proper in 1854. 

All of the remaining orders were extinguished by the law 
of July 12, 1859, given in Vera Cruz under the Presidency 



RELIGION. 25 

of Juarez. Actually, however, this law did not become oper- 
ative in the City of Mexico until December 27, 1860, upon 
the entry into the cajDital of the Liberal forces. Although 
the law provided only for the extinction of the monasteries, 
the partial suppression of the nunneries began almost im- 
mediately. At midnight of February 13, 1861, at a i3recon- 
certed signal (the tolling of the bell of the church of Corpus 
Christi) the nuns were removed from twelve convents to the 
ten convents remaining for the time being undisturbed. 
The law of February 26, 1863, declared the suppression of 
the female religious establishments (excepting that of the 
Sisters of Charity), and required the several convents to be 
vacated within eight days. In a few cases slight extensions 
of time were granted, but the actual suppression of the orders 
dates from March 6, 1863. Finally, the Laws of the Reform 
being incorporated into the Federal Constitution (December 
14, 1874), the last remaining religious order, that of the Sis- 
ters of Charity, was suppressed. 

The fact must be borne in mind that the suppression of 
the orders was not accompanied — as it was in the case of 
the Jesuits in 1856 — by the expulsion of their members 
from the country. The religious orders were suppressed 
as communities, but their members were tolerated as in- 
dividuals. In point of fact, the priests ministering in the 
conventual churches which remain open usually are mem- 
bers of the orders by which, severally, these churches were 
founded. 

The Inquisition. As early as 1527 the influence of the 
Spanish Inquisition was perceptible in New Spain in the 
promulgation of a royal order in that year by which all Jews 
and Moors were banished from the Province. About the 
year 1529 a council was held in the city of Mexico composed 
of the most notable men, religious, military, and civil, then 
in the Province — including Bishop Fuenleal, who was Presi- 
dent of the Audencia, together with all the members of that 
body ; the Bishop of Mexico (Zumarraga) ; the heads of the 
Dominican and Franciscan orders ; the municij)al authori- 
ties and two prominent citizens. As the result of its delib- 



26 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

erations, this council solemnly declared : " It is most neces- 
sary that the Holy Office of the Inquisition shall be extended 
to this land, because of the commerce with strangers here 
carried on, and because of the many corsairs abounding 
upon our coasts, which strangers may bring their evil cus- 
toms among both natives and Castilians, who by the grace 
of God should be kept free from heresy," Following this 
declaration several functionaries charged with inquisitorial 
powers visited the Province during the ensuing forty years, 
suitably discharging the duties of their office by keeping 
heresy and crimes against the canon law well trodden under 
foot. The full fruit of the declaration of the council ripened 
in 1570, when, under date of August 16th, a royal order 
issued, ajDpointing Don Pedro Moya de Contreras (afterward 
Archbishop, and some time Viceroy of the Province) Inquisi- 
tor-General of New Spain, Guatemala, and the Philippine 
Islands, with headquarters in the City of Mexico. The 
chronicler Vetancurt writes with pious joy : " The tribunal 
of the Inquisition, the strong fort and Mount of Zion, was 
founded in the City of Mexico in the year 1571 ; " and later 
he adds: "They have celebrated general and particular 
autos de la fe with great concourse of dignitaries, and in all 
cases the Catholic faith and its truth have remained victo- 
rious." The fact should be noted that the royal order under 
which the Inquisition was established in Mexico expressly 
exempted the Indians from its jurisdiction ; a politic ar- 
rangement that gave it from the outset a strong popular 
support. For the accommodation of the Holy Office the small 
monastery at first occupied by the Dominicans was placed at 
the disposition of the Inquisitor-General. This i3resently 
was rebuilt, to make it more in keeping with the dignity and 
the needs of the business carried on in it, but no record of 
the structure then erected remains. The existing building 
in the city of Mexico, now the property of the Escuela de 
Medicina, was begun December 5, 1732, and was completed 
in December, 1736. The brasero (brazier), or qicemadero 
(burning-place), whereon the decrees of the Holy Office were 
executed, was a short distance eastward of the church of San 



RELIGION. 27 

Diego, upon land since included in the Alameda.* It was a 
square platform, "with wall and terrace arranged for the erec- 
tion of stakes to which the condemned, living or dead, were 
fastened to be burned. Being raised in a large open sj^ace, 
the spectacle could be witnessed by the entire population of 
the city. When the ceremony was ended, the ashes of the 
burned were thrown into the marsh that then was in the rear 
of the church of San Diego. Fray Vetancurt, describing 
the pleasing outlook from the door of San Diego, writes : 
"The view is beautified by the Plaza of San Hipolito and 
by the burning-place of the Holy Office." As in Sj)ain, so 
also in Mexico, the Dominican order and the Inquisition 
were closely associated, though nominally they were inde- 
pendent organizations, t 

The first auto de fe % in New Spain was celebrated in the 

* There was another bi'asero in the plazuela of San Lazaro that served 
for the burning of criminals whose crimes did not come within the 
jmisdiction of the Holy Ofl&ce. The principal crimes of which the 
Holy OflB.ce took cognizance were heresy, sorcery, witchcraft, polyg- 
amy, seduction, unnatural crime, imposture, and personation. The 
extreme penalty, death by burning, was visited only upon criminals of 
the iirst order, as heretics or sorcerers. In the majority of cases the 
criminals were strangled before being burned. 

t " St. Dominick is said to have first proposed the erection of such a 
tribunal to Innocent III. , and to have been appointed by him the first 
Inquisitor. . . . The majority of inquisitors employed have always 
been Dominicans, and the commissary of the Holy Office at Rome be- 
longs, ex officio^ to this order" (Catholic Dictionary, article Inquisi- 
tion) . 

X The aicto de fe, or act of [the profession of the] faith, was the 
public ceremony that followed the secret trial of criminals brought 
before the Inquisition. The ceremony began by the avowal by the 
members of the tribunal, and by all assembled with them, of their be- 
lief in Christianity and the doctrines of the Church. This act of 
faith, or profession of faith, being ended, the tribunal announced the 
crime for which each criminal had been tried, and the measure of guilt 
adjudged to attach to him ; after which announcement, with a per- 
functory recommendation to mercy, it relinquished him to the secular 
arm {i.e., to the civil authorities) for punishment. Hence, the azito 
de fe should not be confounded, as it usually is, with the burning or 
other punishment that followed it, and that, in theory, was the work 
of the secular power alone. 



28 MEXTCAK" GUIDE. 

year 1574 : as its result, as is mentioned with much satis- 
faction by the chronicler Fray Baltasar de Medina, there 
perished *' twenty-one pestilent Lutherans." From this 
time onward, until the Inquisition was suppressed, these 
edifying ceremonies were of very frequent occurrence, some- 
times taking place annually (as in 1646-47-48-4:9) for several 
years in succession. Frequent though they certainly were, 
and large though the number of those who perished in them 
undoubtedly was, the number of those actually burned to 
death was comparatively small. In the majority of cases, 
even when the body of the offender was. burned, grace was 
shown in first granting death by strangulation. Thus, in the 
memorable auto de fe of April 10, 1649, when (April 11th) 
fifteen persons perished, only one — Thomas TremiSo, of 
Sobremonte in Castile, who had " cursed the Holy Office 
and the Pope " — was burned alive. The remaining fourteen 
were burned after strangulation. When the Liberal con- 
stitution of 1812 was adopted in Spain the end of the In- 
quisition began. One of the first reforms introduced by 
the Cortes was the decree of February 22, 1813, by which 
the Holy Office was suppressed throughout Spain and the 
Spanish dependencies. This decree was promulgated in 
Mexico on the 8th of the ensuing June, and by proclamation 
of the Viceroy the property of the Inquisition was then de- 
clared forfeited to the royal treasury. Another Viceroyal 
proclamation ordered to be removed from the cathedral the 
tablets on which, according to usage, were inscribed the 
names of those whom the Holy Office had declared criminals. 
But with the overthrow of the Liberal constitution in Spain, 
and the return to the throne of Ferdinand VII., the decree 
of suppression was rescinded, and the Holy Office once more 
possessed its property and continued its work. The tribunal 
of the Inquisition was established again in Mexico, January 
21, 1814. This re-erection was for only a little time. Fol- 
lowing the revival in Spain (March, 1820) of the constitution 
of 1812, the decree issued by which the Inquisition was sup- 
pressed forever. The decree became effective in Mexico, 
May 31, 1820. There is a certain poetic fitness to be found 



RELIGION. 29 

in the fact that the last years of the Inquisition in Mexico 
were spent in combating strenuously the spread of Liberal- 
ism ; that the last notable auto de fe (November 26, 1815) 
was that at which the accused was the patriot Morelos. The 
finding against him was a foregone conclusion. " The Pres- 
bitero Jose Maria Morelos," declared the inquisitors, "is an 
unconfessed heretic (liereje formal negativo), an abettor of 
heretics, and a disturber of the ecclesiastical hierarchy ; a 
profaner of the holy sacraments ; a traitor to God, to the 
King, and to the Pope." For which sins he was " con- 
demned to do penance in a penitent's dress " (after the usual 
form), and was surrendered to the tender mercies of the 
secular arm. He was shot, December 22, 1815. But it was 
the Inquisition that died. 

Protestantism. In the year 1770, under the auspices of 
the then Archbishop of Mexico, Francisco Antonio Loren- 
zana, the then Bishojj of Puebla, Francisco Fabian y Fuero, 
published in Puebla his "Missa Gothica seu Mozarabica" — 
the liturgy in use among the Gt)thic Christians in Spain be- 
fore the liturgy of the Roman Church was introduced into the 
Peninsula.* The avowed purpose of this work was the re- 
vival of the Mozarabic rite in Mexico. This purpose was not 

* The Mozarabic Liturgy is the ancient communion-ofl5.ce of the 
Spanish Church. It belongs to the Gallican family of liturgies, and 
can, therefore, be traced back to the Ephesine type, on which all the 
Western liturgies, except the Roman, were framed. The name is a cor- 
ruption of the term Arab Mosta' ribeh^ meaning naturalized Arabs. 
The liturgy, however, is much older than the time of the Arab occupa- 
tion of Spain. Dr. Neale concludes that its groundwork is coev^al with 
the introduction of Christianity into the country. It was supplanted in 
Spain by the Roman liturgy in the eleventh century. The first mass 
according to the Roman form was celebrated in Aragon, in the monas- 
tery of San Juan de la Pena, March 21, 1071. This primitive liturgy 
never wholly ceased to be used in Spain, and even now is in use in three 
churches in Toledo — its maintenance in this city being due to the strong 
effort made to compass its general revival by Archbishop Ximenes, of 
Toledo, in the year 1495. The fact should be noted that Archbishop 
Lorenzana, before coming to Mexico, was Vicar-General of Toledo ; and 
that Bishop Fabian y Fuero, before coming to Mexico, was Abbott of 
San Vicente in this diocese. 



30 MEXICAT^- GUIDE. 

immediately accomplished, but a decided tendency toward 
independence of thought in religious matters was created. 
The successful revolt against the authority of Spain tended 
still further toward the growth of liberal ideas. Finally, the 
positive measures taken by Oomonfort, and later by Juarez, 
to diminish and to circumscribe the power of the Koman 
Catholic Church in Mexico, gave the opportunity for the seed 
that had been sown by Fabian y Fuero and Lorenzana to 
ripen. In the year 1868 a positive movement toward the for- 
mation of a Christian Church distinct from the Christian 
Church of Eome began in Mexico. A representative of this 
movement came in that year to the United States asking the 
aid of Protestants in making the movement effective. The 
aid desired was given, and in 1869 " The Church of Jesus in 
Mexico " was organized. The essential fact in regard to this 
Protestant Church in Mexico is that it was not the result of 
missionary work, but of a spontaneous movement originat- 
ing among members of the Boman Catholic Church in 
Mexico. The distinct claim is made that it is not a new de- 
parture, but a reversion to the original creed and liturgy of 
the Christian Church in Spain, on the part of ex-members of 
the Eoman communion who desire " a greater liberty of con- 
science, a purer worship, and a better church organization " 
(see Church of San Francisco). The communing membership 
of this church rapidly increased under the direction of Bishop 
Henry C. Biley (ordained by the Protestant Episcopal Church 
of the United States) until it was officially stated to be 6,000. 
Owing to causes which need not be detailed here this mem- 
bership has been very greatly reduced. In 1886 * this church 
had a membership of about fifteen hundred ; had two large 
church buildings, San Francisco and San Jose de Gracia, in 
the City of Mexico ; three other important church buildings 
outside of the city, and several mission chapels ; maintained 
two orphanages and several schools. 

Protestant Missions. Aid has been extended by the 
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States and by 

* Statistics furnished by letter, under date of October 4, 1886, by H. 
C. Riley per J. R. Heath. 



RELIGION. 31 

the Cliurcli of England to the indigenous Protestant 
Church of Mexico. Missions also are maintained in Mexico 
by the three Protestant denominations named below, in the 
order in which their mission work in Mexico was begun : 

The Presbyterian Mission,"^ begun in 1872. Central stations 
are maintained in the City of Mexico, Zacatecas, San Luis 
Potosi, Jerez, Saltillo, and Lerdo, attached to which are 
numerous out-stations. The effective strength of the mis- 
sion is : Ordained missionaries, 8 ; ordained natives, 27 ; 
licentiates, 19 ; female missionary teachers, 6 ; Bible- women, 
3 ; a total native force of 79. Churches, 89 ; communicants 
3,916 ; boarding-schools, 2 ; pupils in boarding-schools, 50 ; 
day-schools, 28 ; gii'ls in day-schools, 192 ; boys in day- 
schools, 492 ; students for ministry, 31 ; sabbath-school 
pupils, 1,734. 

The Methodist Mission,^ begun in 1873, The following 
circuits are maintained : City of Mexico, Miraflores, San 
Vicente, Puebla, Sierra, Orizaba, Pachuca, Queretaro, Guana- 
juato. The effective strength of the mission is : Foreign mis- 
sionaries, 8 ; assistant missionaries, 8 ; foreign missionaries 
of Women's Foreign Missionary Society, 6 ; native workers 
of Wom. For. Miss. Soc, 13 ; native ordained preachers, 8 ; 
native unordained preachers, 25 ; native teachers, 22 ; foreign 
teachers, 1 ; other helpers, 16 ; members, 728 ; probationers, 
633; adherents 3,873 ; average attendance on Sunday wor- 
ship, 1,431 ; high-schools, 1 ; teachers in high-school, 2 ; pu- 
pils in high-school, 50 ; day-schools, 19 ; day-scholars, 918 ; 
sabbath-schools, 21 ; sabbath scholars, 862 ; churches and 
chapels, 14; halls and other places of worship, 22 ; parson- 
ages, or ' ' homes," 14 ; volumes issued from the mission 
press during the year, 474,740, with a total of 2,595,591 
pages. 

* From the Forty-ninth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign 
Missions of the Presbyterian Church, 1886, the current report at the 
time of going to press. 

t From the Sixty-seventh Annual Report of the Missionary Society 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the year 1885, the report cur- 
rent at the time of going to press. 



32 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

The Baptist Mission.^ "The Baptist churches organized 
in Mexico are as follows : Under the Home Mission Society 
of New York, a church organized at each of the following 
places, Monterey, Salinas, Garcia, Santa Kosa, Montemorelos, 
Ebanos, Cadereyta, Apodaca, in State of Nuevo Leon, and 
one in the City of Mexico — nine in all, with a membership 
of about 300. Under the Southern Baptist Convention, 
churches as follows : Saltillo, Patos, Progreso, Muzquiez and 
Juarez, in State of Coahuila. There are about 300 members 
in these. There are church edifices in Monterey, Saltillo, 
and Patos, and $18,000 raised, which will be increased to 
^25,000, for the building of a house in the City of Mexico. 
There are thirteen ordained Baptist ministers and five 
schools. 

Missions have been established in Matamoros and the 
City of Mexico (and probably at other points) by American 
Friends. 



IV. EDUCATION. 



"Within the past twenty years very astonishing and very 
gratifying changes have been wrought in the educational 
condition of Mexico. As yet, the system of public instruc- 
tion is by no means perfect, but it constantly is being im- 
proved. It is alive and growing, and affords substantial 
proof of the vitality and progressive tendencies of the nation. 
"With very few exceptions free schools, sustained by the 
State or municipal governments, the church or benevolent 
societies, are found in all the towns and villages ; and in 
all the cities and larger towns private schools are numerous. 
In the more important cities colleges and professional 
schools are found. Thirty years ago illiteracy was very 
general. At the present time, probably the majority, cer- 
tainly a large proportion, of Mexicans can read and write. 
All of the Mexican States have recognized the necessity of 

* Statistics received by letter from the Rev. P. C. Pope, D.D., gen- 
eral superintendent Church Edifice Department, under date of October, 
4, 1886. 



EDUCATION. 



33 



obligatory, free primary instruction, and, as seen in the siib- 
joiued table, aj^propriate annually very considerable sums for 
the maintenance of free schools. Included in the general 
scheme are free night-schools for men and women, as well 
as schools in which trades are taught. The annexed table 



States. 



Agnascalientes . 

Campeche 

Chiapas 

Chihuahua 

Coahuila 

Colima 

Durango 

Guanajuato. . . , 

Guerrero 

Hidalgo 

Jalisco 

Mexico 

Michoacan 

Morelos 

Nuevo Leon 

Oaxaca 

Puebla 



6,500 

4,500 

2,500 

4,500 

7,5'00 

3,000 

5,000 

20,000 

15,000 

19,000 

42,000 

50,000 

11,000 

14.000 

14,000 

21,000 

67,000 

Queretaro ! 10,000 

^ - - 14000 

9,500 

4,000 

3,500 

4,000 

9,500 

27,000 

11,500 

31,000 

31,000 

1,000 



Approximate 

school 
attendance. 



San Luis Potosl. 

Sinaloa 

Sonera 

Tabasco 

Tamaulipas 

Tlaxcala 

Vera Cruz . . . 

Yucatan 

Zacatecas 

Federal District. . 
Lower California. 



Total. 



452,500 



School 
appropriation. 



fl0,000 
15,000 
10,000 
28,000 
26,000 
18,000 
20.000 
81,000 
35,000 
82,000 

100,000 

187,000 
53,000 
23.000 
68,000 
51,000 

153,000 
30,000 
40,000 
58,000 
20,000; 
20,000 
10,000 
20,000 

219,000 
50,000 
72,000 

202,000 
10,000 



1,711,000 



shows, approximately, the annual school attendance at the 
free schools in the several States. To the sum total of this 
attendance should be added at least half as many pupils more 
whose education is obtained in private schools and in the 
free schools maintained, as above noted, by the church and 
by benevolent societies. 



34 MEXICAT^ GUIDE. 

Education is further encouraged by the existence of ex- 
tensive libraries — largely, however, composed of the wrecks 
of the monastic libraries, and notably lacking in modern 
works of reference — in all the principal cities. The best of 
these is the National Library (which see), that is wonderfully 
rich in theology and Spanish American history, and also 
contains a large number of modern works. Excellent work- 
ing libraries are attached to the several technical and profes- 
sional institutions. Museums are maintained in the city of 
Mexico, in Guadalajara, in Oaxaca, and in Puebla, all of value. 
Numerous learned societies are found in the principal cities. 
Astronomical and meteorological observatories are main- 
tained by the Federal government;. Newspapers are j)ub- 
lished in all the cities and larger towns. 



V. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, 

Language. Excepting the Indian dialects, the language 
spoken in Mexico is Spanish. The genius of the Spanish 
language is such that it does not readily admit of perversion. 
The Spanish of Mexico, therefore, with a few slight eccen- 
tricities — e.g., sounding the // as y, the z and c as s instead 
of as th, which really are not Mexican peculiarities at all, 
but are found also in Spain — is singularly pure. There 
are interpolated into the language many proper names — of 
places, mountains, fruits, flowers, trees, animals, articles of 
household and field use — which are derived from the primitive 
dialects. These usually are softened in the transfer. Nearly 
all of the words, for instance, ending in il are softened into 
te. Thus coyotl becomes coyote ; chocolatl, chocolate, and so on. 
The .r, in Mexican j^roper names usually has the sound of s. 
Thus, Xochimilco is pronounced Sochimilco — the c/^, as in 
Spanish, having the sound of cli in chair. The more impor- 
tant of the native dialects now in use (according to the clas- 
sification of the eminent philologist Don Francisco Pimen- 
tel) are : Mexican, spoken by 1,750,000 persons ; Tarascan, 
250,000 ; Mixteco-Zapoteca, 500,000 ; Maya-Quiche, 400,000, 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATUKE. 35 

and Otliomi, 704,000. Together with these, other dialects 
are spoken by many smaller families. The total of Mexicans 
speaking native languages is estimated by Senor Pimentel at 
3,970,284. A very large proportion of these also speak Span- 
ish. 

Literature. Of primitive Mexican literature "^ very little 
survives ; but the existing fragments are of a quality that al- 
most tempt one into believing the ^picturesque romance that 
various writers of distinction have given us so freely in the 
guise of alleged Mexican history. It is hard to believe that 
a man capable of uttering sentiments at once so lofty and so 
truly poetic as those expressed by Netzahualcoyotl, chief of 
Texcoco, in the fifteenth century, should not have been the le- 
gitimate product of a high state of civilization ; instead of 
being, as he assuredly was, merely an accidental interpolation 
of intelligence and refinement in the midst of barbarism. 
Poetry, however, is less a gift pertaining to civilization than 
to humanity. A tolerably close parallel, indeed, to the life 
of the poet -chief of Texcoco may be found in the life of the 
poet-chief of Judea — though to the poetical fervor of David 
the Mexican ruler united also much of the enlightened 
wisdom of Solomon. Texcoco was the centre of this primi- 
tive literature ; perhaps it extended no farther than the little 
circle that the Texcocan chief drew around him. But it is 
certain that literary qualities of a high order are inherent in 
the Mexican race, and need only favorable conditions in 
order to manifest themselves in work of exceptional excel- 
lence. This fact was demonstrated in the years immediately 
succeeding the Conquest— before a severe censorship of the 
press was established in Mexico — by the numerous works 
written in Spanish by native Mexicans, men and women ; to 
which works much of our scant knowledge of primitive 
Mexico is due. Succeeding this short period the prostration 
of lettei-s in Mexico was absolute ; saving only the theologi- 
cal writings in the monasteries and — for the most part in the 

* It is with extreme diffidence that this very imperfect sketch of Mexi- 
can Uterature is offered at all. The only excuse for it is that to the ma- 
jority of English readers the subject is absolutely unknown. 



36 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

seventeenth century — the chronicles of the several religious 
orders. These latter are of very great historic value, and, as 
a rule, they are very entertaining reading. Fray Augustin 
Betancurt, to be sure, although abounding in valuable facts, 
is desperately stupid reading. On the other hand, a more 
delightful book scarcely can be found than the chronicle of 
Fray Baltazar de Medina ; and only less delightful are the 
chronicles of Fray Torribio de Benevente, called "Moto- 
linia," of Fray Geronimo Mendieta, and of Fray Alonzo de 
la Eea. Yet works of this nature cannot be regarded as lit- 
erature. They simply were histories written to order for 
ecclesiastical purposes. That some of them chanced to 
possess also literary value was nothing more than a happy 
accident. During the seventeenth century, however, there 
were two writers in Mexico, whose work is of admirable lit- 
erary quality, and entitled to all respect. These were : 
Carlos de Sigiienza y Gongora, poet (though a stilted one), 
philosopher, mathematician, historian, antiquarian, and 
critic ; and Sor Juana Ynez de la Cruz, a nun in the convent 
of San Geronimo, whose writings, in verse and in prose, 
attracted deserved attention not only in Mexico but in Spain. 
The works of a third notable Mexican of this period, the 
dramatist Alarcon, scarcely can be regarded as belonging to 
Mexican literature at all ; for while Alarcon was born in 
Mexico, and received his early education in that country, his 
literary life was passed in Spain. 

The revival of Mexican literature may be said to have 
begun in the latter part of the seventeenth century, with the 
notable writings of the historians Clavigero, Veytia, and Gama. 
It is true that Clavigero wrote in exile, having been expelled 
with the Jesuits, and that Veyfcia also wrote in foreign coun- 
tries, but both were born and educated in Mexico, and both 
devoted themselves to writing, as did Gama, the history of 
that country. The poets Navarete and Tagle enlightened 
the early years of the present century, the former with j)oetry 
of a religious or semi-religious character, showing genuine 
feeling and a certain elegance of versification ; the latter 
with various odes of a fervid rather than scholarly cast — the 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 37 

best being his celebrated ode addressed to the Army of the 
Three Guarantees (commanded by Yturbide), in which he 
hails the advent of Mexican Independence. Two other 
famous patriotic poets of this period were Ortega and Quin- 
tana-Eoo. Between the years 1810 and 1820 appeared in 
parts the "Periqnillo Sarniento" of Jose Joaquin Fernandez 
de Lizardi (over the nom de guerre of "El Pensador Mexi- 
cana"), a work that very well might be styled " The Mexi- 
can Gil Bias," and that to this day remains one of the wittiest 
and most delightful books in the whole range of Mexican 
literature. This has been republished again and again, and, 
although several other of Lizardi's works still survive, will be 
the work by which he will be enduringly known. The drama-. 
tist Gorostiza also belongs to this period immediately pre- 
ceding the achievement of independence. His writing is 
clever, and a considerable ingenuity is shown in his plots. 
Some of his plays still hold the stage. Succeeding the war 
of independence Mexico was plunged for a long period in 
civil wars that almost wholly crushed the nation's literary 
life. Only a few names — those of the poets Carpio and 
Pesado, and of the poet and dramatist Galvan, with one or 
two others — rise conspicuously above the turmoil of civil 
strife. But during this time the generation was maturing 
that in our own day has raised Mexican literature — though 
as yet the fact scarcely is known to the outside world — to an 
honorable and even commanding position. 

The great figure of this period, ih.Q figure that always will 
be great in the literary history as well as in the patriotic 
annals of Mexico, is that of the]poet Guillermo Prieto. Born 
about the year 1810, almost his whole life has been passed 
in an atmosphere of civil war. Primarily, he is a statesman, 
and while the varying fortunes of the cause which he has 
espoused have placed him at times in extreme personal peril, 
and have proved his personal bravery, his fighting has been 
done with his tongue and pen. He is a Liberal, and much 
of the success of the Liberal party has been due to his wise 
counsel and to his sagacious management of its affairs. He 
has served in the higher ofiSces of the government, and 



38 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

always to tHe iDrofit of the country and to his own honor. As 
a writer upon political economy and finance he has mani- 
fested a solidity of mind and a soundness of judgment such 
as poets are not popularly supposed to have. For the use 
that he has made of these several qualities in his country's 
service he is honored ; but as a poet he is not only honored 
but loved. In the intervals of his serious labors he has 
made time in which to write the songs and stories in verse, 
by which he is best known throughout the Republic. As an 
author of whimsical verse, as a i3oet of sentiment, and, above 
all, as a poet of patriotism, his work justly is esteemed as of 
the best that Mexico has produced. And still, in his young 
and vigorous old age, his poet life continues. In 1886 was 
published his " Romancero Nacional," that delightfully com- 
plements the delightful " Musa Callejera" (Curbstone Idyls) 
of his earlier years. Senor Altamirano, the highest critical 
authority in Mexico, writes : " Guillermo Prieto has closed 
with his book [El Romancero Nacional] the cycle of purely 
lyric poetry in Mexico ; and whether this cycle does or does 
not begin again, he has acquired a new title to immortality." 
In the troublous times during which Prieto began to 
write, other important literary work, though in a very small 
way, was going on. Roa Barcena, though now best known 
as an historian, then was known as a poet ; Lucas Alaman, 
Zavala and Carlos Bustamante were engaged upon their 
admirable histories ; in the north, Dr, Eleuterio Gonzalez 
was writing his fascinating " Life of Dr. Mier " and his ex- 
cellent historical works relating to Northern Mexico ; and 
various writers of high quality were aiding in the general 
revival of letters. The eminent historian Orozco y Berra, 
whose death in 1881 still is a living sorrow to those whose 
happiness it was to know him, has left us what henceforth 
must be the standard history of primitive Mexico and the 
Spanish Conquest, a work that deals calmly and judicially 
with the facts which Prescott to a certain extent has ob- 
scured by tinting them with the glow and color of romance. 

The centre of the present literary life of Mexico is the 
Liceo Hidalgo, a literary society founded in the capital. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 39 

September 15, 1849, and within the past few years — after a 
period of quiescence — renewed with a vigorous vitality. 
The present president of this organization is Senor Ignacio 
Manuel Altamirano, one of the most charming of living 
writers. Ho was born November 13, 183-1: , in the village of 
Tixtla, in Oaxaca (now in the recently erected State of 
Guerrero), and, like Juarez, is of pure Indian blood. His re- 
markable intelligence as a child gained for him a scholarship 
in the gift of the authorities of Tixtla, in the College of 
Toluca, and his career at this institution, and subsequently 
at the (now extinct) College of San Juan de Letran, in the 
City of Mexico, was a series of brilliant triumphs. He was 
admitted to the Mexican bar in 1859, but almost immediately 
entered the Liberal army, (he had already, taking a military 
vacation, served with distinction in the rising of Ayutla) , and 
for two years, until Liberalism had triumphed, was a gallant 
and successful soldier. He was elected to the Chamber of 
Deputies in 1861, where he immediately made his mark as a 
powerful orator, and as a singularly acute and logical de- 
bater. Upon the invasion of Mexico by the French he again 
entered the army, and as a general officer gained a number of 
brilliant victories, which materially advanced the Mexican 
cause. At the close of the war he was elected an Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court, of which he subsequently be- 
came the President Justice. His more important works are : 
" Eimas," a collection of charming poems ; "Movimiento lit- 
erario en Mexico " (" The Literary Movement in Mexico "), a 
work both historical and critical of very high value ; ' ' Drama- 
turgia Mexicana" (Mexican Dramaturgy), that supplements 
the i)i'evious work, and " Clemencia," a novel of singular 
grace and j)ower. To these must be added a number of 
other novels of high merit ; critical writings at once deli- 
cate, trenchant, and astute, and many inimitable descrip- 
tive sketches — as that of his own earlv life in his native vil- 
lage— that are full of poetry and grace. Senor Altamirano 
has been not merely a most important contributor to Mex- 
ican literature ; to him, more than to any other single writer. 
Mexican literature of the x^resent day owes its existence. By 



40 MEZICAN GUIDE. 

his associates, and by the younger literary men of Mexico he 
is called, lovingly and reverently, ''The Master" — and this 
title is well deserved. 

Of other living Mexican writers it is difficnlt to speak with- 
out making (from lack of knowledge) what may seem to be in- 
vidious distinctions, and without omissions (also from lack of 
knowledge) which may seem capital. Of the position of Se- 
nor Kiva Palacio there can be no doubt. As an historical nov- 
elist, combining extraordinary historical accuracy and arch^e- 
ological correctness, with a Dumas-like dramatic power and 
story-telling faculty, he cannot be too warmly praised ; nor 
can he be too warmly thanked for his lucid accuracy as an 
editor of historical and general literature. With him may 
be grouped, as living writers of high merit, the poets Juan 
de Dios Peza, Jose Maria Vigil (who by his admirable 
arrangement and ordering of the National Library, of which 
he is librarian, has done much to advance the cause of liter- 
ature in Mexico, and has conferred a great favor upon all 
students of Spanish-American history) ; the archaeologist 
and, to quote Bandelier, "great documentary historian of 
Mexico," Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta ; the archaeologist Al- 
fredo Chavero ; the philologist Francisco Pimentel ; and 
the philosopher Eamon Manterola. In certain aspects the 
philosophical writings of Sefior Manterola are the most not- 
able literary products of Mexico. His philosophy is not 
of the antiquated mystical and objectless sort, but belongs to 
the modern and eminently practical school that considers 
abstract subjects in the light of their direct bearing upon 
existing social institutions and the actual needs and affairs 
of human life. Work of this elevated sort necessarily im- 
plies the existence of precisely the enlarged intellectual 
conditions and advanced intellectual culture that in this last 
quarter of the nineteenth century Mexico enjoys. 



HISTOKICAL SUMMARY. 41 



VI. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 

Primitive Mexico. Into the interesting region of primi- 
tive Mexican history there is no need (fortunately) to enter 
here. The general opinion may be expressed, however, in 
regard to the writings concerning this period that, as a rule, 
a most gorgeous superstructure of fancy has been raised 
upon a very meagre foundation of fact. As romance, infor- 
mation of this highly imaginative sort is entertaining ; but 
it is not edifying. Seekers after substantial information 
concerning primitive Mexico should consult the " Historia 
antigua y de la conquista de Mexico '' of Manuel Orozco y 
Berra, or, in English, the even more satisfactory, but less 
comprehensive, publications of A. F. Bandelier. As show- 
ing the degree of civilization to which the Mexicans had 
attained at the time of the Spanish conquest, the following 
paragraph may be quoted from the histoiy of the author first 
named : " It is to be regretted that from the wreck of this 
primitive civilization some of the arts peculiar to it were not 
saved : the methods by which its astronomers succeeded in 
determining the apparent motion of the sun and the length 
of the solar year ; of working and polishing crystal and other 
stones ; of manufacturing delicate articles of use and orna- 
ment of obsidian ; of casting figures of gold and of silver 
in one piece ; of making filagree ornaments without solder- 
ing; of applying to pottery even and transparent glazes, 
such as are used by makers of fine ware, with colors that, 
after remaining for centuries underground, still are fresh 
and brilliant ; of weaving extremely delicate tissues of cotton 
mixed with silky feathers and rabbits' fur." 

Period of the Conquest. The coast of Yucatan was 
discovered by Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, March 4, 
1517, in the course of a voyage of adventure from Cuba. In 
the ensuing year, Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba, sent out 
an expedition of like nature under the command of Juan 
de Grijalva, who sailed along the coast of Mexico, and 



42 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

landed on the island of San Jnan de Ulua, fronting the exist- 
ing port of Vera Cruz. The result of his trading was so 
good, and his report of the country — sent back by one of his 
captains, Pedro de Alvarado, subsequently a famous captain 
under Cortes — was so promising, that Velasquez at once be- 
gan fitting out another expedition, on a much larger scale, 
for the conquest of the newly discovered land. And the 
command of this expedition was given to Hernando Cortes,^ 
then thirty-four years old. 

* Cortes was horn in the town of Medellin, Province of Estra- 
madura, Spain, 5n the year 1485. He was the son of Don Martin 
Cortes de Monroy by his wife Dona Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. 
lie came to Cuba when about nineteen years old. As the reward 
of his services as conqueror of Mexico, he was made Marquis del 
Valle de Oaxaca, by a royal order given by the Emperor Charles 
V. at Barcelona, July 6, 1529, and received great grants of land. 
He died December 2, 1547, in the town of Castelleja de la^ Questa, 
in Spain. (See Church of Jesus Nazareno.) 

Cortts married in Cuba, under compulsion, Dofia Catalina Ju- 
arez ; and there is reason for believing the tradition preserved in 
Coyoacan that in that town he murdered her. Sefior Orozco y Berra, 
in his ** Noticia historica de la Conjuracion del Marques del Valle " 
(Mexico, 1853), incidentally supplies the following facts concern- 
ing the descendants of the Conqueror : After the conquest, Cor- 
tes married Dona Juana de Ziiniga, daughter of the Conde de 
Aguilar, and niece or cousin of the Duque de Bejar. Of his issue 
by his first wife no record survives, and it is probable that the one 
child that certainly was born of her died in infancy. By the In- 
dian La Marina he left one son, Martin. By three other Indian 
women of rank he had three daughters. By Antonia Hermosilla 
he left one son, Luis. By his second wife he left three daughters 
and one son, also named Martin, who was the second Marques, 
This son returned to Mexico from Spain, in 1563, and engaged in 
a conspiracy (in which his illegitimate brother, Martin, also was 
involved) to make himself ruler of the Province, For this crime 
of treason his property was confiscated (but was restored in 1574) 
and he was sent to Spain. Don Martin, after cruel torture, was 
banished forever from Mexico. The second Marqires married 
Dona Ana Ramirez de Arellano, by whom he left a son, Hernando, 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 43 

Before the preparation of the force was complete, Velas- 
quez determined to remove Cortes from his command ; and 
this fact being discovered to Cortes, he sailed hurriedly and 
secretly in the night from Santiago de Cuba, November 18, 

1518. He refitted his fleet and augmented his force in the 
Cuban ports of Macaca, Trinidad, and San Cristobal de la 
Habana, from which latter port he sailed February 10, 1519. 
Off Cape San Antonio he was Joined by two more vessels ; and 
finally sailed thence toward the coast of Mexico, February 18, 

1519. With him went as interpreters the two Indians, Mel- 
chor and Julian (see page 20), brought fuom Yucatan by Her- 
nando de Cordova two years before. Most fortunately, as 
events tui'ned out, the services of these Indians — whose thin 
veneer of Christianity presently became wofully cracked — 
were not required. The expeditionary force consisted of 
a fleet of eleven sail, including shallops; 110 mariners; 16 
cavalrymen with their horses ; 553 foot-soldiers ; 200 Cu- 
ban Indians ; a battery of ten howitzers and four falconets. 
On board the flagship was raised the standard of the con- 
quest, a black ensign emblazoned with the arms of the Em- 
peror Charles V. (the double-headed Austrian eagle with the 
castles and lions of Castile and Leon) having at the sides 
the crimson cross surrounded by blue and white smoke or 

third Marques, who married Dona Mencia de la Cerda y Bobadilla 
—a marriage that gained for the family the return of its feudal 
rights in Mexico. Pedro, the fourth Marques, son of Don Her- 
nando, came to reside upon his estates in Mexico, and died in that 
country in the year 1629. In his person the legitimate male line 
of the Conqueror became extinct. Through the female line the 
property of the family passed to the Neapolitan family Pignatelli, 
Dukes of Monteleone. Such of the property as remains intact, 
still a vast estate, now belongs to Jose de Aragon Pignatelli y Cor- 
tes, Duque de Terranova y Monteleone. 

The illegitimate sons of the Conqueror, Martin and Luis, were 
recognized by their father. Don Martin married Dona Bernaldiua 
de Porras, by whom he had one son, Hernando. With the record 
of his banishment all trace of him and his descendants is lost. 
The descendants of Don Luis are known as Cortes-Hermosilla. 



44 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

clouds, and bearing the motto : Amid, sequamm- crucem et 
si nos fidem habemus vere in hoc signo vincemiis — " Friends, let 
lis follow the cross, and, if we have faith, by this sign we 
shall conquer." Bearing this flag, and under the patronage 
of the Apostle Peter, the fleet put out to sea. 

The first halt was made (for missionary and marauding 
purposes) on the island of Cozumel. Here the Spaniard 
Geronimo de Aguilar, shipwrecked in those parts in the 
year 1511, joined the expedition, and, having acquired the 
language of the coast, was most useful thereafter as an in- 
terpreter. The famous interpreter to the expedition, how- 
ever, was the Indian woman La Marina. Sailing from Coz- 
umel March 13th, and coasting around Yucatan, a landing 
on the mainland was made on the shores of the river Ta- 
basco, or Grijalva, March 20th. Here there was battling 
with the Indians, that resulted in victory for the invaders ; 
and as a result of the victory presents were made to the 
Spaniards of precious things, and of male and female slaves. 
One of the slaves thus obtained was La Marina. This woman 
was a native of Jalisco, whence she had been sold into slavery, 
and understood the language spoken on the Mexican pla- 
teau. She understood also the coast language, and so could 
communicate with the Spanish castaway, Aguilar. Thus 
Cortgs was enabled to hold converse with the people whom 
he had come among. La Marina quickly acquired also the 
Spanish tongue, and through all the i)eriod of the conquest 
she was the faithful ally and interpreter of the conquerors. 
By her Cortes had a son, Don Martin, who not infrequently 
is confounded with his legitimate son bearing the same 
name — given to each because it was that of their grand- 
father, Don Martin Cortes de Monroy. 

Leaving the river Grijalva, the expedition came again to 
land, April 21st, at the spot where now stands the city of Vera 
Cruz. Here Cortes remained, treating with the natives, for 
a considerable period. His efforts to secure the submission 
of the Mexican ruler peacefully were unavailing ; and dis- 
content arose among his own men. To silence this latter, 
by making their only safety lie in their success, he burned 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 45 

liis sliiiDS, and, August IGth, began his march toward the 
Mexican capital. After four sharp battles with the Tlas- 
calans, the members of this tribe became his allies, and 
marched on with him toward Mexico. In Cholula a con- 
spiracy against the Spaniards was discovered by La Marina, 
and, turning upon the Cholulans suddenly the Spaniards 
put a great number of them to the sword. The march was 
continued, and, without armed resistance on the part of the 
Mexicans, the invaders entered Tenochtitlan, the i^resent 
City of Mexico, Tuesday, November 8, 1519. 

The Aztec chief, Montezuma, came out to meet Cortes ; 
and this meeting took place, according to tradition, in front 
of the spot where now stands the Hosx^ital de Jesus. The 
tradition adds that in founding the hospital Cortes selected 
this site because of its association with his entry into the 
city. The aggressive acts of the Spaniards, their insults to 
the persons and religion of the Mexicans, their imprison- 
ment of Montezuma, their massacre in the name of Christi- 
anitv, caused a rising against them. Thev were driven out of 
the city, over the causeway leading to Tlacopan (Tacuba), on 
the night of July 1, 1520, with great slaughter ; and this night 
ever since has been called the Dismal Night, la noche triste. 
Cortes retreated toward the coast fighting the battle and 
gaining the victory of Otumba (July 8th) ; and received the 
succor and assured friendship of the Tlascalans. To this as- 
surance, at this critical moment, his future success was due. 

From Tlascala, after a period of recuperation — during 
which period several minor victories had been won, re-en- 
forcements had been received from Cuba, gunjoowder had 
been made from sulphur obtained in the crater of Poj^ocate- 
petl, and small flat-bottomed boats [bergantines] had been 
prej^ared, ready to be put together and launched on Lake 
Texcoco — Cortes returned to the Valley of Mexico and laid 
formal siege to the city. This siege began December 31, 
1520. Its base was the town of Texcoco. The force with 
which Cortes operated consisted of 40 cavalrymen, 80 arque- 
busiers and cross-bowmen, about 450 foot -soldiers armed 
with sword and lance, and a train of nine small cannon. 



46 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

His native allies have been estimated at 120,000. The im- 
mediate successor of Montezuma, the chief Cuitlahua, had 
died of small-pox and had been succeeded by Guatemotzin. 
The siege continued for more than six months. Numer- 
ous attacks were made, and the garrison was depleted still 
further by starvation. The triumphal entry of the Spaniards 
was made August 13, 1521. Almost all of the treasure of 
the city had been thrown into the lake and was permanently 
lost. Before this fact was determined Cortes, to his shame, 
had ]Dermitted the heroic Guatemotzin to be put to the tor- 
ture, in order that the hiding-place of the treasure might be 
revealed. 

Viceregal Period. The Province of New Spain, as it 
was styled during the Spanish domination, remained a de- 
pendency of the Spanish crown for precisely three centuries. 
During this period it was ruled successively by five Govern- 
ors (1521-28), two Audencias (1528-35), and sixty-two Vice- 
roys (1535-1821). The Governors, of which Cortes was the 
first, were merely military expedients whose duties were less 
civil than military. The first Audencia, composed of three 
members, was so disturbed by the intrigues of each of these 
three to secure the supreme power that, notwithstanding 
the more harmonious working of the second Audencia, com- 
posed of five members, the method of governing by a vice- 
roy was adopted. Among the many men in the long line of 
the viceregal succession whose acts for good or evil have 
made their names especially conspicuous in Mexican history 
are the following : 

Antonio de Mendoza, first Viceroy (1535-50). He was dis- 
tinguished for his humane efforts to mitigate the hardships 
of the enslaved Indians. He caused a printing-press to be 
brought from Sixain and to be set up in Mexico by Juan 
Pablos — whence issued (1535) tlie first book printed in 
America: "Escala espiritual de San Juan Climaco," the 
third translation into Spanish of the Latin translation from 
the original Greek. He aided Fray Pedro de Gante in 
founding institutions of learning. He pushed discoveries 
and conquest of new territory northward — in which territory. 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 47 

under his orders, the cities of Morelia and Guadalajara were 
founded. In his reign the missionary Bartolome de las 
Casas arrived in Mexico ; the mines of Zacatecas and Guana- 
juato first were worked, and money first issued from the 
Mexican mint. 

Luis de Velasco, second Viceroy (1550-64). He emanci- 
pated 150,000 Indians held as slaves by the Spaniards. 
When the argument was urged against this act that it would 
destroy the mining industry of the Province, the Viceroy 
replied : "The liberty of the Indians is of more importance 
than the mines of the whole world " — a noble sentiment that 
in a very little while was forgotten, for the enslavement of 
the Indians, in one form or another, was continued until al- 
most the jn-esent day. He founded (1553) the University; 
he cleared the roads of the country of robbers ; he founded 
(1553) the Hospital Real ; he founded the northern outposts 
of Chametla and San Miguel (1560), and Durango (1563) ; 
he distributed royal lands among the Indians. In his time the 
mines of Fresnillo and Sombrerete were discovered, and in 
Pachuca, the patio, or amalgamating, process for the reduc- 
tion of silver ores was invented by Bartolome de Medina. 
In 1552, in consequence of the first inundation of the city of 
Mexico, he caused the dvke of San Lazaro to be built. He 
died in the city of Mexico, July 31, 1564, greatly lamented 
and beloved. 

Martin Enriquez de Almanza, fourth Viceroy (1568-80). 
He conducted successful campaigns against the savage In- 
dians of the north ; he manifested great humanity toward 
the Indians during the terrible plague of the matlalzahuatl. 
In his reign the Inquisition was introduced ; the company of 
Jesus was established in the Province ; the first stone of the 
existing cathedral in the city of Mexico was laid, and many 
charitable and religious institutions were founded. Just be- 
fore his appointment as Viceroy he drove the English from 
the island of Sacrificios (off Vera Cruz), November 5, 1568. 

Alonzo Manrique de ZufLiga, Marques de Villa Mauriqne, 
seventh Viceroy (1585-90). In his reign the commerce be- 
tween Mexico and the East was greatly extended. In the 



48 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

year 1586 the English corsair (as he is politely, and perhaps 
not improperly, termed by Mexican historians) Cavendish, 
cai)tured, off Acapulco, the galleon coming from the Philip- 
pines ; and in 1587 " another English corsair, Senor Francis 
Drake," captured off the California coast the galleon Santa 
Ana, laden with an enormously rich cargo of goods from 
China and Japan. 

Luis de Velasco, eighth Viceroy (1590-95) son of the for- 
mer Viceroy of the same name. He established manufacto- 
ries of "woollen cloth ; he began the conquest of New Mexico ; 
he made a favorable peace with the Chichimec Indians ; he 
framed wise and just laws for the protection of the Indians 
generally ; he aided in the establishment of Franciscan mis- 
sions in the north ; he laid out the Alameda (the eastern 
half of the present Alameda) in the City of Mexico. Having 
served as Viceroy of Peru, he was a second time (1607-11) 
Viceroy of Mexico. He presided (December 28, 1608) at the 
formal beginning of the great drainage cut, the tajo de no- 
cliistongo ; he sent an embassy to Japan, and in all his acts 
showed himself to be a wise and benevolent ruler. 

Gaspar de Zuiiiga y Acevedo, Conde de Monterey, ninth 
Viceroy (1595-1603). He despatched an expedition to Cali- 
fornia for the extension and pacification of the Spanish do- 
minion thereabouts : when was founded the California town of 
Monterey ; caused to be founded (1600) the city of Monterey 
in Nuevo Leon ; removed the site of the city of Vera Cruz to 
the spot where the city now stands. 

Diego Carrillo Mendoza, Marques de Gelves, fourteenth 
Viceroy (1621-24). This nobleman was of a highly irascible 
nature, as was also the Archbishojp, his contemporary, Juan 
Perez de la Lerna. By the Viceroy's orders, a robber who had 
sought sanctuary in the church of Santo Domingo w^as arrested 
in that holy place. A most violent dispute between the two 
great dignitaries of Church and State arose in consequence of 
this act of sacrilege, the end of which was that the Viceroy 
decreed the banishment of the Archbishop, and the Arch- 
bishop retaliated by excommunicating the Viceroy ! In point 
of fact both were worsted in this encounter, for the Vice- 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. . 49 

roy — after himself taking sanctuary in the church of San 
Francisco — betook himself to Spain ; and shortly thereafter 
the Archbishop also was recalled to the mother country. 
However, the Viceroy was successful for the time being in 
clearing the highways of Mexico of robbers. 

Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, Duque de Alburquerque, 
twenty-second Viceroy (1653-60). In the last year of his 
reign he founded a colony of one hundred families in New 
Mexico, giving to the city thus formed his titular name — 
now corrujpted into Albuquerque. 

Fray Payo de Eivera Enriquez, Archbishop of Mexico, 
twenty-seventh Viceroy (1673-80). No striking events 
marked the reign of this good man, but in a great va- 
riety of ways the Province was the better for his wise and 
just government. Notably, he caused many important 
works of i3ublic utility — as the stone causeway leading to 
Guadalupe and the aqueduct that j)rovides that town with 
water — to be constructed. His resignation of his two-fold 
office of Viceroy and Archbishop was regarded in the Prov- 
ince, and with reason, as a public calamity. 

Melchor Portocarrero Lazo de la Vega, Oonde de la Mon- 
clova, twenty-ninth Viceroy (1686-88). He began the coloni- 
zation of Coahuila, and the town founded there was named 
Monclova in his honor. He built at his private charge the 
aqueduct that brings the water of Chapultepeo to the City 
of Mexico. 

Gaspar de la Cerda Sandoval Silva y Mendoza, Conde de 
Galve, thirtieth Viceroy (1688-96). He accomplished the 
conquest of Texas in 1691, and in 1692 caused the city of 
Pensacola to be founded ; completed (1692) the conquest of 
New Mexico ; put down the mutiny (see Plaza Mayor) of 
1692, and in 1695 sent a Mexican contingent to operate with 
the English against the French in the attack upon the 
island of Hispaniola, an expedition that was brilliantly suc- 
cessful. 

Jose Sarmiento Valladares, Conde de Moctezuma, thirty- 
second Viceroy (1696-1701). The titular name of this noble- 
man was derived from his wife, Maria Andrea Moctezuma, 



50 . MEXICAN GUIDE. 

third Countess of Moctezuma, fourth in descent from the 
second Mexican ruler of this name, through his son Don 
Pedro Johualicahuatzin Moctezuma. This Viceroy's reign 
was uneventful, but in his time (with the death of Charles 
II., November, 1, 1700, and the accession of Philip V.) 
Spain and its dependencies passed from the House of Aus- 
tria to the House of Bourbon. Notwithstanding the conflicts 
to which this transfer of the crown gave rise in Europe, the 
fidelity of Mexico remained unshaken. It is affirmed (though 
on no very high authority) that Philip V. even contemplated 
taking refuge among his loyal subjects in Mexico, and so re- 
lieving himself of the disturbances that beset him in Europe. 

Juan de Acuna, Marques de Casafuerte, thirty-seventh 
Viceroy (1722-34). He was noted for his liberal and en- 
lightened administration of the affairs of the Province. 
During his reign the first issue of the Gaceta de llexico, a 
small single sheet, was published in 1722 ; a publication 
that was continued regularly, after January, 1728, by Juan 
Francisco Sahagun de Arrevalo. The Gaceta was continued 
until the year 1807, and to the student of Spanish- American 
history the files of this newspaper are exceedingly valuable. 

Pedro Cebrian y Agustin, Conde de Fuenclara, fortieth 
Viceroy (1742-46). During his reign, by a royal order given 
by Philip V., June 19, 1741, the first effort was made to col- 
lect and digest practical statistical information concerning 
Mexico. The work was conducted by Jose Antonio Vil- 
lasenor y Sanchez, with the official title of Cosmographer of 
New Spain ; and resulted in the publication in the City of 
Mexico, in 1746, of the curious and valuable " Teatro 
Americano " ; and later (1751) of a map of the Province. In 
the reign of the Conde de Fuenclara, also, colonization be- 
gan in the present State of Tamaulipas, then Nuevo San- 
tander. 

Joaquin de Monserrat, Marquis de Cruillas, forty-fourth 
Viceroy (1760-66). He organized for the first time a regular 
army in Mexico, a force that in later times was raised to a 
considerable size and to a high state of efficiency. By his 
orders the houses in the City of Mexico were numbered. 



IJISTOKICAL SUMMARY. 51 

Carlos Francisco de Croix, Marques cle Croix, forty-fifth 
Viceroy (17G6-71). He greatly improved the City of Mexico ; 
doubled the size of the Alameda (see Alameda) ; manifested 
great firmness in carrying out the royal order (June 25, 
1767) by which the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico, and 
in every way manifested marked ability as a ruler. In his 
time the fourth General Council was held (January 15, 1771) 
presided over by Archbishop Lorenzana. In his time, too, 
the salary of the Mexican viceroys was raised from $40,000 
to $70,000 a year. 

Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Urstia, forty-sixth Viceroy 
(1771-79). He notably exerted himself to develop the nat- 
ural resources and to increase, by urging the removal of va- 
rious restrictive regulations and imposts, the foreign com- 
merce of the Province, with the result that the product 
and trade of Mexico reached an unexampled prosperity. 
The fleet that sailed for Spain in 1770 carried a freight val- 
ued at upward of thirty millions of dollars ; and a freight 
of about the same value was sent in the fleet of the follow- 
ing year. During his reign there was coined in the Mex- 
ican mint no less a sum than $127,396,000. He fostered 
also the military strength of the country ; actively aided in 
the construction of works of public utility — completing at 
his own cost the Chapultepec aqueduct — and of public 
charity ; and in all his acts manifested so liberal a spirit 
and judgment so excellent that a Mexican historian very 
justly sums his reign in the sentence : " The period of his 
government was a period of uninterrupted felicity for New 
Spain." He died in office, April 9, 1779, and was buried 
with all possible honors in the church of Guadalupe — 
where, in the west aisle, a bronze slab in the floor still marks 
his tomb. Had the viceroys of New Spain generally re- 
sembled Bucareli it is safe to say that Mexico would have 
been a Spanish province to this day. 

Juan Vicente de Gliemes Pacheco de Padilla, Conde de 
Eevillagigedo, fifty-second Viceroy (1789-94). This very 
eccentric and very positive nobleman was a most famous 
reformer and corrector of abuses, as well as a notable insti- 



53 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

gator of practical improvements of all sorts. He cleaned, 
paved, and lighted the principal streets of the City of Mexico, 
and organized an efficient police force ; he built roads ; he 
caused to be shot or hung great numbers of highwaymen ;; 
he established weekly posts between the capital and the sev- 
eral Intendencies ; he remodelled the military organization ; 
he placed a locked box having a slit in its lid in a public 
place for the receipt of petitions and communications from 
those who were not in a position easily to gain audience 
of his person ; he despatched expeditions for the exploration 
of the Californias that went as far north as Behring's Straits, 
and communicated to the Spanish Cortes, as the result of 
these expeditions, an admirable and truly prophetic memoir 
upon this region. In his desire to assure himself personally 
that all was going properly in his capital city, he was in the 
habit of making rounds through the streets at night ; and 
whatever he found wrong it was his custom to have righted 
instantly. If the case was one that belonged directly within 
the province of some particular city official, it was his cus- 
tom to send to that official the stirring message : "I await 
you here ! " — and this regardless of the time of night. On 
one occasion he chanced to strike his foot against a stona 
unevenly laid in the pavement. Instantly the contractor 
■who had done the work was called from his bed and, with 
benign politeness, was told by the Viceroy of the accident 
that had befallen him and bidden to mend the pavement be- 
fore morning ! On another occasion, early one evening, he 
entered a street that ended suddenly against a huddle of 
squalid dwellings. The Conde sent for the corregidor and 
ordered him to clear the hovels away and open a fair wide 
street to the barrier of the city, and to have it finished so 
that he, the Viceroy, might drive through it on his way to. 
mass on the following morning. It was finished : and the 
Calle Eevillagigedo, running south from near the west end 
of the Alameda to the Plazuela de la Candalaria, remains 
to this day a monument to the Conde de Eevillagigedo's 
peremptory method of effecting reforms. Despite his pecu- 
liarities, possibly because of them, this Viceroy rendered 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 63 

substantial services to the country that he governed in so odd 
a way. 

Miguel de la Grua Talamanca, Marques de Branci forte, 
fifty-third Viceroy (1794-98). This Italian adventurer ob- 
tained his appointment through the influence of Godoy, the 
favorite of Charles IV., or rather, of that monarch's queen. 
Fortunately, Branciforte had no opportunity to injure the 
Province seriously, but by his petty meanness and many acts 
of injustice he made himself cordially hated. The one im- 
portant event of his reign, with which he himself had no 
connection, was the cession (1795) to France of all that por- 
tion of Florida lying west of the Perdido Eiver. 

Revolutionary Period. During the Viceregal period the 
policy of Spain toward Mexico was harsh and restrictive in 
the highest degree. The country was shut tightly against 
commerce with every nation save the Spanish, and even this 
commerce was trammelled by arbitrary and rasping regula- 
tions. Enormous taxes were levied upon the colonial pro- 
ducts. The laws governing the colony were involved, con- 
tradictory, arbitrary ; and in the making of them the colon- 
ists had no share. The colonists, for their part, treated the 
natives with extreme cruelty. The Indians were made slaves, 
and in every way were oppressed. The Spanish Government, 
it is true, forbade this slavery, but the enormous revenues 
extorted by the Crown furnished at least a pretext for the 
employment of slave labor. Added to these dangerous ele- 
ments in the constitution of the colony was a false and 
offensive social organization. The only recognized society 
was that of the pure-blooded Spaniards. The creole ele- 
ment and the half-castes were treated with indignity and 
regarded with contempt. It is remarkable, not that revolu- 
tion came in a colony thus constituted, but that its coming 
was so long delayed. Curiously enough, the first actual 
movement toward independence was made by the Viceroy, 
the official deputy of the Spanish Crown. With the abdica- 
tion of Charles IV. in favor of Ferdinand VII., and with the 
luring of Ferdinand VII. to Bayonne, and his enforced abdi- 
cation there of his throne, Sj^ain, for the time being, had no 



54 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ruler at all. It was some little time before the antliority of 
Joseph Bonaparte was recognized. In this period juntas were 
formed in many parts of Spain that professed to represent the 
government of Ferdinand ; and each of these sent official 
notice of their authority to Mexico — coupled, of course, with 
a demand for tribute. 

Jose de Iturrigaray, fifty-sixth Viceroy (1803-1808) was a 
man of public spirit and an excellent ruler. Many notable 
public works — among them the national bridge on the road 
from Vera Cruz to the Capitol — remain as monuments to his 
zeal for the public good. He fostered commerce ; he stimu- 
lated home industry. When this perplexing condition of 
affairs arose in Spain, he rightly believed that Mexico should 
rule herself. To this end he set about convening an assem- 
blage of notables that should invest him with full ruling 
power until, at least, a Spanish king once more should 
be upon the Spanish throne. The Creoles and half-castes 
heartily favored this project ; but the Spaniards in the 
colony rose against it in revolt, seized the person of the 
Viceroy, and, after imprisoning him in the fortress of San 
Juan de XJlua, sent him back to Spain ! In the place of the 
ejected Viceroy, the Marshall Pedro de Garibay, an aged 
Spanish soldier, was made Viceroy by the Spanish party. 
He reigned only for a few months, and was succeeded — by 
order of the Junta Central Espanola — by the then Archbishop 
of Mexico, Francisco Javier de Lizana. The one notable act 
of Garibav's administration was the execution, in the Archi- 
episcopal palace, of the Licenciado Verdad, who had been 
most prominently associated with the movement to make 
Mexico free. Verdad is conceded by all Mexican historians 
the honorable precedence of first martyr to the cause of Mexi- 
can independence. 

From this time onward the national party of Mexico 
steadily increased in size and influence, and the strong de- 
termination to make Mexico independent never was lost sight 
of. In Michoacan a conspiracy against the viceregal au- 
thority was discovered in 1809, and was crushed promptly. 
In the year following the decisive step was taken that event- 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 55 

ually separated Mexico from Spain. A conspiracy liad been 
for some time in progress against the Spanish power, if it 
coukl be called Spanish power when Spain was ruled by 
France, in which conspiracy the leader was the patriot priest, 
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, cura of the town of Dolores, in the 
State of Guanajuato. Actively associated with him were 
Allende, Aldama, and other officers of the garrison of San 
Miguel ; and with him also were certain patriots — including 
Dona Josefa Ortiz, wife of Miguel Dominguez, corregidor of 
Queretaro — who, under cover of holding the meetings of a 
literary society, fomented in Queretaro the patriot cause. 
This conspiracy being discovered prematurely, the conspira- 
tors were forced to act before their plans had been fully ma- 
tured. Aldama and others coming to Hidalgo's house at two 
o'clock on the morning of Sunday, September 16, 1810, awoke 
him from sleej) and told him that their purpose had been be- 
trayed. The cura decided that they must strike their blow at 
once. At the early mass he announced to all the people as- 
sembled in the church that the time for Mexico to be free of 
European rule, that no longer was Spanish but French, had 
come. They responded eagerly to his cry for help, the grito de 
Dolores, and that morning he set out, with Allende and the 
other officers, at the head of an insurgent mob of 300 men, 
armed with clubs and knives for the conquest of Guanajuato, 
As this " army " passed the Sanctuary of Atotonilco, Hidalgo 
brought thence a banner upon which was blazoned the Virgin 
of Guadalupe, thus making the image of the Patroness of 
Mexico the standard of the cause of Independence. At San 
Miguel the regiment to which Captain Allende was attached 
declared for independence; and as the force advanced it 
received great additions of country folk imperfectly armed. 
With a very large body of men Hidalgo reached Guanajuato, 
and after some desperate fighting, including the storming of 
the Alhondiga de Granaditas, captured the town. Thence 
he marched to Valladolid (Morelia), which city declared for 
independence at once. Here his force was augmented by 
a considerable body of soldiery. Thence he marched toward 
Mexico, gaining constantly new adherents ; and fought at 



5Q MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Las Crtices (October 30, 1810) his first engagement with the 
royal forces in the field. He gained a decisive victory. 
Had he moved immediately npon Mexico, after winning this 
battle, it is probable that the city would have fallen into his 
hands, and that the cause of independence would have 
triumphed then and there. Unfortunately, he decided to 
retreat toward the interior. In the course of this retreat he 
again encountered the royal troops (near Aculco, November 
7th) and was defeated. However, he successfully concen- 
trated his forces at Guadalajara, and organized a govern- 
ment there. While he was thus engaged the Spanish forces 
were made effective and were despatched against him. A 
pitched battle was fought, January 16, 1811, at the bridge of 
Calderon, that resulted in the defeat of the revolutionists. 
The patriot forces were dispersed. Hidalgo and his associ- 
ates held together and went northward, with the intention of 
seeking aid from the United States. They were betrayed 
into the hands of the Spaniards in the town of Acatita de 
Bajan (May 21, 1811), and were removed thence to Chi- 
huahua. They were executed in Chihuahua : Allende, 
Aldama, and Jimenez, June 26 ; Hidalgo, July 31, 1811. 

So far from checking, the death of these patriots stimulated 
the cause of Indejjendence. The more notable of its lead- 
ers were : the priest Morelos, a native of Valladolid (which 
town now is named Morelia, in his honor) ; Matamoros, Gale- 
ana, the Bravos, Martinez, Mier y Teran, and Felix Fernan- 
dez, called Guadalupe Victoria. The more notable events of 
the war that ensued were : the heroic defence and brilliant 
evacuation (May 2, 1812) of Cuautla by Morelos ; the conven- 
tion of the first Mexican Congress (September 14, 1813, at 
Chilpancingo) ; the formal declaration of Mexican Independ- 
ence (November 6, 1813) ; the rout of Morelos before Valla- 
dolid (December 23, 1813) by the royalist forces commanded 
by Yturbide and Llano ; the capture and execution of Mata- 
moros in Valladolid (February 3, 1814) by Yturbide ; the 
proclamation at Apatzingan (October 22, 1814) of the first 
Mexican constitution, and the execution (December 22, 1815) 
of Morelos (see Inquisition). With the death of Morelos the 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 57 

patriot canse languished, save that it was maintained at vari- 
ous points by a desultory resistance of the royal forces, and 
by the splendid and spirited resistance of Vicente Guerrero 
in the mountains of the South. 

In the year 1820 the Viceroy Apodaca made Yturbide* 
commander of the District of the South. He fought a few 
engagements with the insurgents, but presently entered into 
a correspondence with Guerrero that led to a personal con- 
ference at Acatempa (January 10, 1821), and the decision that 
they would unite in proclaiming the independence of Mex- 
ico. In conformity with this determination, Yturbide pub- 
lished (February 21:th) the famous Plan of Iguala. The essen- 
tial articles of this plan were : the conservation of the Roman 
Catholic Church, to the exclusion of all other forms of relig- 
ious belief ; the absolute independence of Mexico as a mod- 
erate monarchy, with either Ferdinand VII. or some other 
member of the reigning house of Spain upon the throne ; the 
amicable union of Spaniards and Mexicans. These three 
clauses were styled "the three guarantees." The colors 
of the Mexican flag, adopted a little later, represented these 
three articles of the national faith : white, religious purity ; 
green, union of Spaniards and Mexicans ; red, independence. 
Yturbide's army, converted by his suasion to the sujDport of 
these principles, was known as the Army of the Three Guar- 
antees. 

Yturbide's action, combined with his subsequent able di- 
rection of military affairs, gained at last Mexico's indepen- 

* Agustin de Yturbide was born in Valladolid, now Morelia, Sep- 
tember 27, 1783. He entered the colonial army before he was sixteen 
years old ; and, as a loyal soldier, he fought with energy and skill 
against the insurgents. The re-establishment in Spain (1820) of the 
Liberal constitution of 1812 caused a complete change in his political 
opinions ; a change that was intensified, according to Bustamante, by 
reading the very remarkable "Historia de la revolucion de Anahuac," 
written by Dr. Mier, and published in London about 1810. Yturbide, 
however, had no desire to see a republic established in Mexico. What 
he sought to accomplish was the erection of a Mexican monarchy, ruled 
by an imported Spanish king. These were his secret convictions and 
desires when the Viceroy placed him in high military command. 

3* 



58 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

dence. In rapid succession lie captured the cities of Valla- 
dolid, Queretaro, and Puebla, entering this last city in 
triumph August 2, 1821. Then he laid siege to the City of 
Mexico. At this juncture arrived from Spain, to replace 
Apodaca, the sixty-second and last Viceroy, Juan O'Donoju. 
Being cut off from the capitol, he took the oath of office at 
Vera Cruz, August 3d, and at once sought a personal inter- 
view with Yturbide at Cordoba. This meeting took place 
August 23d and 24th, and resulted in the agreement known 
as the Treaty of Cordoba, that embodied, with some slight 
modifications, the Plan of Iguala. The only important con- 
cession was that O'Donoju should be a member of the pro- 
visional Committee of Regency that was to govern Mexico 
until a king could be found to accept the Mexican crown. 
Yturbide made his triumphal entry into the City of Mex- 
ico, September 27, 1821, on which day formally ended the 
Spanish power in Mexico. The nation thus created, so far 
as territorial extent was concerned, was one of the greatest 
in the world. Its possessions comprehended, in addition 
to the present Republic of Mexico, the State (now Republic) 
of Guatemala* on the south, and on the north all the re- 
gion between the Red and Arkansas Rivers and the Pacific, 
extending as far north as the present northern boundary of 
the United States. 

Independent Mexico. On the 24th of February, 1822, 
the "first Congress of the Mexican Nation," j)rovision for 
the election of which had been made by the Committee of 
Regency, was convened with great solemnity. This assem- 
blage declared that the Mexican nation accepted as its bases 
the Plan of Iguala and the Treaty of Cordoba. Between 
the Congress and the Regency difficulties almost imme- 
diately arose. Two important parties formed themselves. 
One of these, composed of the army, the clergy, and a few 
Sjianiards, desired to place Yturbide upon the throne. The 

* This possession came after independence was secured, and speedih"" 
departed. Guatemala voluntarily united with Mexico, Febiuary 21, 
1823. It seceded from Mexico July 1, 1823. It never was a p-rt of the 
Viceroy alty of New Spain. 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 59 

otlier party, composed of the old Independents and the 
mass of Spaniards — nnited only in their hatred of Yturbido 
— desired to have executed exactly the Plan of Iguala by 
placing on the throne a Spanish prince. In the midst of 
these strivings of rival factions came the news from Spain 
that the Cortes (February 13, 1822) had annulled the Treaty 
of Cordoba. Taking advantage of this situation, Yturbide 
permitted a demonstration to be made by the army against 
the Congress ; and under duress the Congress elected him 
(May 19, 1822) Emperor by a vote of 67 to 15. On the 21st of 
the ensuing July Yturbide and his wife were anointed and 
crowned with great solemnity in the Cathedral of Mexico. 
His official title was Agustin I., Emperor of Mexico. Almost 
his first act was to dissolve the existing Congress ; imprison 
its more dangerous members, and rejplace this body by a 
junta composed of two deputies from each province, of his 
own selection. His empire speedily collapsed. In Vera 
Cruz, December 6, 1822, a Republic was proclaimed by Gen- 
eral Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. This was more specifi- 
cally formulated in the Plan of Casa Mata, that everywhere 
met with approval. In a month's time Yturbide found his 
empire reduced to the City of Mexico. In this strait he 
proclaimed the re-establishment of the Congress that he 
had dissolved ; and to this body (March 4, 1823) he tendered 
his resignation. Congress took the position that this res- 
ignation could not be accepted, because the election of 
Yturbide as emperor, being effected under duress, had not 
been valid. He was declared banished from the country ; 
and was granted at the same time a life annuity of $25,000 
in recognition of his eminent services to the nation. A few 
months later he wrote from London to the Mexican govern- 
ment, warning it of the machinations of the Holy Alliance 
to restore the Spanish rule in Mexico, and offering his ser- 
vices to his country should such an attempt be made. The 
Congress replied to this letter by a decree (April 28) declar- 
ing that should Yturbide return to Mexico he would be 
regarded as a traitor and put to death. In ignorance that 
this decree had been issued he did return to Mexico. He 



60 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

landed in disguise at Soto la Marina, July 14, 1824. He 
was recognized, arrested, carried to Padilla, brought before 
the legislature of Tamaulipas, there in session, and by that 
body was condemned to death. He was shot July 19, 1824. 
His last words were: "Mexicans! In the very act of my 
death I recommend to you love of our country and the ob- 
servance of our holy religion : thus shall we be led to glory. 
I die for having come to help you. I die gladly, because I 
die among you. I die with honor, not as a traitor. I do 
not leave the stain of treason to my sons. I am not a traitor, 
no!" 

The second Mexican Congress assembled November 7, 
1823. It gave itself at once to the making of a Eepublican 
constitution. This instrument was patterned closely upon 
the Constitution of the United States. It proclaimed the 
creation of the United States of Mexico ; declared the gov- 
ernment to be republican, federal, and democratic ; gave to 
the several States of which it was composed the right of 
independent government in internal affairs (without preju- 
dice to the rights of the Federal Government) ; created a 
National Congress composed of a Senate and Chamber of 
Deputies ; vested the executive power in a President, and 
the judicial power in a Supreme and Circuit Courts. This 
Constitution was proclaimed October 4, 1824 ; and on Octo- 
ber 10th ensuing the first President of Mexico, the patriot 
General Guadalupe Victoria, took the oath of office. Con- 
gress was dissolved December 24, 1824, and the first Consti- 
tutional Congress was convened January 1, 1825. In the 
year 1825 the fortress of San Juan de Ultia, until then held 
by the last of the Spanish forces, was evacuated ; and the 
Eepublic of Mexico received the formal recognition of Eng- 
land and the United States. 

With the consummation of Independence the formation of 
two great political parties (including many minor divisions) 
began. These were the Centralists or Conservatives, and the 
Federalists or Liberals. The warrings of these two parties 
have been the cause of all imj)ortant political disturbances 
in Mexico until the present day. From 1828 until 1846 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 61 

elections were disregarded, and these parties succeeded each 
other in power by force of arms. The second election for 
president, in October, 1828, resulted in the election of Gen- 
eral Gomez Pedraza (Conservative). Against this election 
General Santa Anna pronounced (November 11, 1828), thus 
setting the fatal example of disregarding the laws in the 
most important act that the people of a republic are called 
upon to perform. Santa Anna's record is so bad that there 
is no reason for supposing that his pronunciamento was dic- 
tated by other than selfish motives ; but he shrewdly counted 
upon the zealous but short-sighted co-operation of patriotic 
Bepublicans, who believed that they saw in the election of 
the Conservative candidate a decided step toward the un- 
doing of much, or all, that had been accomplished toward 
the establishment of popular government. The result of his 
act was a revolution that placed the defeated (Liberal) can- 
didate, General Vicente Guerrero, in power. A further effect 
of this movement was the decree of Congress (March 20, 
1829) by which all Spaniards were banished from Mexico. 
The banishment of the Spaniards caused an acceleration of 
the preparations that Spain had been making in a leisurely 
fashion for the re-conquest of the country. A Spanish force, 
fitted out in Cuba, landed at Tampico in July, 1829. This 
invasion aroused a vigorous spirit of patriotism all over the 
country. General Santa Anna, without orders, fitted out a 
force in Vera Cruz and went against the invaders ; and, 
before Tampico, effected a junction with the force sent by 
the Central Government under General Mier y Teran. A 
vigorous action began on September 9th, and on the 11th 
the Spanish commander capitulated — surrendering his arms, 
ammunition, and colors, and agreeing to take back at once 
to Cuba his disarmed soldiers. This was the end of the 
Spanish attempt at re-conquest. Spain formally recognized 
the Republic in a treaty concluded in Madrid, December 
28, 1836. 

In this place it is impossible, and useless, to follow the 
series of revolutions by which Mexico for many years was 
kept iu ferment. It is expedient to note, however, certain 



62 MEXICAN" GUIDE. 

events which were important in themselves and which show 
the tendency of the times. The ultra-Liberal congress that 
began its sessions in March, 1833, proclaimed (June 28th) 
the first law aimed directly at the power of the church — the 
direct result of a pronunciameiito in Morelia (May 31st) in 
favor of clerical rights. This law (called del caso) withdrew 
the right of enforcing payments of tithes by an appeal to 
civil tribunals, and the right of maintaining in civil tribunals 
the binding force of monastic vows ; declared the religious 
of both sexes free to abandon their convents ; excluded the 
clergy from teaching in educational institutions supported 
by national funds. This law was annulled by Santa Anna 
within a year. 

The War with the United States. In 1835 the re- 
bellion of Texas, under the leadership of Houston, occurred. 
This rebellion was more American than Mexican. A large 
portion of the population of Texas had migrated from the 
Unites States, and this was the element that took the lead 
in the revolt against Mexican rule — a revolt precipitated by 
many arbitrary acts on the part of the Mexican Government. 
A crisis was reached in 1835, when the Federal Government 
abrogated the State constitution. The excesses of Santa 
Anna's army, sent to enforce obedience — notably the mas- 
sacre of the Alamo and the affair of Goliad — aroused thor- 
oughly the Anglo-Saxon fighting spirit, and made peace 
impossible. The Republic of Texas maintained its separate 
existence until 1844. It was recognized by the United States, 
France, England, and Belgium. During the administrations 
of both Jackson and Van Buren earnest but ineffectual efforts 
were made by the Texans to have their republic admitted as 
a State into the American Union. President Tyler, made 
of baser stuff, concluded a treaty (April 12, 1844) with 
Texan representatives, by which Texas was admitted into the 
American Union . This treaty was ratified by the American 
Congress in March, 1845. It was characterized by General 
Almonte, the then Mexican Minister at Washington, as an 
act of aggression, ''the most unjust which can be found in 
the annals of modern history." Bearing in mind the fact 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 63 

that Texas was an independent power, and was recognized 
as such by the Mexican Government, and consequently had 
a perfect right to annex itself to the United States, this 
sweej)ing condemnation obviously is not borne out by the 
facts. But every fair-minded American will concede that 
our national action at this juncture, while it may have been 
justified by selfish expediency, was not justified by the laws 
of honor and international good faith. 

The war that followed had no formal beginning. Each 
country massed troops upon the frontier, and a general conflict 
was precipitated (April 24:th, 1846) by a Mexican ambuscade, 
on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, by which was routed a 
reconnoitring party of dragoons commanded by Captain 
Thornton. In this skirmish sixteen Americans were killed 
and wounded, and the remainder of the force was captured. 
After the affairs of Palo Alto (May 8th) and Eesaca de la 
Palnia (May 9th), both in Texas, and both defeats for the 
Mexicans, General Taylor crossed his forces to Mexico (May 
18th) and occupied Matamoros. In the meantime (May 13, 
1846) the American Congress had appropriated $10,000,000 
for the prosecution of the war, and 50, 000 volunteers were 
ordered to be raised. The facts should be noted here that 
(1) the revolt of Texas probably would not have occurred 
had Mexico been governed in an orderly manner in con- 
formity with its constitutional law ; and (2) that a peace- 
ful settlement of the Texas difficulty unquestionably would 
have been reached had there been a stable government in 
Mexico to treat with the Government of the United States. 
In point of fact, Mr. Slidell, the special envoy sent to 
Mexico by the United States Government, agreeably to an 
intimation on the part of the President, Herrera, that a 
special envoy would be received, was refused an audience 
by General Paredes, who had usurped the presidential office 
(December 30, 1845) while the envoy was on his way to 
Mexico ; and (3) had the Mexicans held together as a nation 
and united in fighting the Americans, instead of weakening 
their forces by fighting also among themselves, while the 
result of the war would have been the same, it would not 



64 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

liave been, as it was, almost a walk-over for the invading 
army. All through this wretched business the United States 
had a colorable excuse for each of its several offensive acts ; 
but its moral right to attack a nation infinitely weaker than 
itself, to conquer that nation and to strip it of more than 
half of its territory never was justified and never will be. 

The events of the war may be summarized in a few words. 
Taylor advanced from the east ; captured Monterey (see Mon- 
terey) September 26th, 184:6, and remained victor at Buena 
Vista, or Angostura, February 23, 1847. Doniphan advanced 
through New Mexico (followed by Price, who had some 
sharp fighting with the Pueblo Indians) and, after the battle 
of Sacramento, February 28, 1847, occupied Chihuahua. 
Early in March, 1846, Captain Fremont, acting under orders 
from the Secretary of War, incited a revolt in California 
against Mexican rule. Commodore Sloat occupied Mon- 
terey (California) July 7th ; Commander Montgomery occu- 
pied San Francisco July 8th ; and Commodore Stockton, in 
a proclamation of August 17, 1846, took formal possession 
of California. The conquest was completed by Stockton 
and Kearney. The main invasion of Mexico was in the 
south, and was aimed directly against the capital. Scott 
landed at Yera Cruz, March 9, 1847 ; forced the capitulation 
of the city after a five days' bombardment, March 27th ; out- 
flanked and defeated Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo, April 18th ; 
occupied Puebla, without opx30sition. May 25th ; entered 
the Valley of Mexico,* August 9th ; defeated the Mexicans 
at Padierna, August 20th, and made a brilliant strategic ad- 
vance across the Pedregal that cut the Mexican centre and 
rendered possible the victory of Churubusco on the same 
day ; carried (after an interval of truce) the positions of the 
Casa Mata and Molino del Eey, September 8th ; stormed 
and carried the castle of Chapultepec, September 12th and 
13th ; took possession of the garitas of Belem and San 
Cosme, on the afternoon of September 13th ; completed the 
conquest and took possession of the City of Mexico, Septem- 
ber 15, 1847. Peace was made by the Treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, concluded February 2, 1848, by which Mexico 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 65 

ceded to the United States all of tlie territory held or 
claimed north and northeast of the present boundary, and 
received in return from the United States the sum of fifteen 
millions of dollars. The treaty provided also for the pay- 
ment by the United States of about three and a quarter 
millions of dollars of claims of American citizens against 
Mexico. For a treaty dictated by a conquering army, in the 
captured capital of the nation treated with, this instrument 
stands unparalleled in history. 

A period of i^eace and comparative prosperity succeeded 
the war. In 1851, for the first time in the history of the 
Eepublic, the constitutionally elected President, Mariano 
Ai'ista, was suffered to take his seat. He did not, however, 
complete his term of office. Confronted'by a revolution, he 
resigned the presidency at the end of two years. For rather 
more than two years ensuing (1853-55) Santa Anna was 
Dictator. Under the Plan of Ayutla, Comonfort became 
President, December 12, 1855. He repressed vigorously both 
the army and the church, enforcing his decrees with the 
portion of the army that remained loyal to his government. 
His most imx)ortant measure for circumscribing the authority 
of the church was the decree of desamortizacion (June 25, 
1856), ordering the sale at its assessed value of all landed 
estate held by the church ; the church to receive the money 
proceeds of such sale, while the lands, passing into private 
hands, and freed of mortmain, would become j)art of the 
mobile and available wealth of the country at large. Another 
vigorous blow (September 16, 1856) in the same direction 
was his suppression, upon the charge of a conspiracy against 
the Government fomented by the monks, of the monastery 
of San Francisco (which see). A Congress, meanwhile, was 
in session, having in charge the framing of a new Consti- 
stitution for the Eepublic. This instrument (see Constitu- 
tion) was adopted February 5, 1857. Comonfort, subscrib- 
ing to it, remained in office pending the election of a Presi- 
dent under its provisions. He was himself elected, and 
(December 1, 1857) took the oath of office. Ten days later 
Comonfort ovei-threw the Constitution that he had just given 



QQ MEXICAN GUIDE. 

his oatli to support. His explanation of this act was that he 
considered the operation of the Constitution impracticable. 
He dissolved the Congress (December 11th) and threw his 
legal successor, Benito Juarez, Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court, into prison. His efibrt at revolution being vigorously 
opposed, its result was his own downfall. He vainly tried 
to undo what he had done ; and, failing, left the country, 
February 7, 1858. (It is only just to Comonfort to add that 
he returned to Mexico at the time of the French Intervention 
and fought gallantly with his countrymen against the French. 
By his flight Juarez became Constitutional President (Janu- 
ary, 1858) and at once departed for Guadalajara, where he 
organized his government. Thence he passed to the Pacific 
seaboard, and, by way of the United States, came to Vera 
Cruz. Here he maintained his government for three years. 
During this period a government existed also in the City of 
Mexico. Immediately upon the flight of Comonfort the re- 
actionary party proclaimed Felix Zuloaga President ; and 
he and his four successors were at the head of affairs in the 
capital dui'ing the War of the Eeform. This war was the final 
clinching of the two parties which had been fighting each 
other since the year 1810. It was the culmination of the strug- 
gle between the Conservative-clerical party and the party of 
Liberalism and Progress. It was not confined to any one part 
of the country ; the fighting was everywhere. - It was the 
cruellest, bitterest war that Mexico has ever known. In the 
very thick of it, and at a time, too, when the prosjDect of vic- 
tory seemed most doubtful, Juarez proclaimed (July 12, 1859) 
the famous Laws of the Reform, by which, by nationalizing 
church property, the very heart of the matter was reached 
and the substantial cause of the half-century of civil war 
was removed at a blow. The City of Mexico was captured 
six months later by the Liberals, and Juarez entered his 
capital January 11, 1861. From this centre the Laws of 
the Reform at once were made operative, and the Liberal 
programme as a whole was put into effect throughout the 
region occupied by the Liberal forces. Although at this 
moment the position of the Liberals was far stronger than 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. ^7 

it bad been at any time since the conflict began, it still was 
far from being assured. The fighting still was in piogress. 
in nearly all parts of the country ; and presently an act of 
very doubtful statesmanship on the part of the legislative 
department of the Government opened the way to a new and 
great calamity. 

The French Intervention.* On July 17, 1861, the 
Congress ]3assed a law suspending payment on the foreign 
debts of the Republic. This law gave a substantial pre- 
text for the iucervention of three European nations in Mexi- 
can affairs — while the War of the Rebellion, just then be-. 
ginning in the United States, made futile an appeal to the 
one Power strong enough to give Mexico efficient aid in such 
an emergency. The intervention had been strongly urged, 
esjjecially at the court of France, by the accredited envoys 
of the reactionary government that had been the de facto 
government of Mexico for the period of the War of the Re- 
form. It was realized by Napoleon III., and was formu- 
lated in the Treaty of London (October 31, 1861), by which 
France, England, and Spain bound themselves to occupy 
jointly the coast fortresses of Mexico, and, without modify- 
ing the territory of that country, to put its j)eople in a posi- 

* The first intervention of France in Mexican affairs was in the midst 
of the anarchical period that followed the achievement of independence. 
During the Presidency of Bustamante, a claim of $600,000 was preferred 
by France for damages suiFered by French citizens during the civil wars. 
The validity of this claim may be judged from one of its items : $60,000 
demanded by a French pastry-cook to indemnify him for pies stolen 
from him and eaten by revolutionists ! From this item the claim re- 
ceived the derisive name of the reclamacion de los pasteles — the claim 
of the pies. As a whole it was denied by the Mexican Government in 
specific terms, in answer to the French ultimatum of March 21, 1838. 
A French squadron, commanded by the Princa de Joinville, arrived at 
Vera Craz October 27th following ; captured the fort of San Juan de 
TJliia, November 27th, and occupied Vera Cruz, December 5th. The 
French were attacked and driven back to their ships the same day by 
General Santa Anna, who in this engagement lost his leg. A treaty 
finally was concluded (March, 1839) in accordance with which Mexico 
paid the claim of #600,000 in full. In 1854, the port of Guaymas was 
held for a short time by a party of French filibusters. 



68 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

tion to establish a government of their own. The allied 
squadrons of these three powers arrived at Vera Cruz in De- 
cember, 1861, and January, 1862, bringing also the three 
special commissioners — General Prim, M. de Salignj, and 
Admiral Wyke — accredited severally by Spain, France, and 
England, to treat with representatives of the Mexican Gov- 
ernment. This recognition of the power of the Government 
to make treaties, it will be observed, virtually was a recog- 
nition of the Government itself — precisely the point denied 
by the European powers. A proclamation was issued by 
the commissioners, declaring that their presence in Mexico 
was for no other purpose than that of settling vexed ques- 
tions of finance. A conference was effected, resulting in 
the preliminary Treaty of La Soledad (signed February 19, 
1862), concluded between General Prim and the Mexican 
representative, Sefior Doblado. This treaty stipulated that 
satisfaction would be given to the claimants by the Mexican 
Government and that, temporarily, the Sj^anish troops might 
be advanced to Orizaba, and the French troops to Tehu- 
acan. Practically, no troops were sent by England. One 
thousand marines accompanied the English commissioner, 
but the express statement was made that these were not an 
aggressive force, but simply a guard of honor. The prelim- 
inary treaty further stipulated that the Spanish and French 
troops should be withdrawn when the preliminary treaty 
should be confirmed by the English and French commission- 
ers. This approval was given (although in the case of France 
subsequently rej^udiated). The Spanish forces, therefore, 
were withdrawn, and the English and Spanish ships left 
Mexican waters. The French forces remained ; were rein- 
forced (in March), and what practically was an attempt to 
subjugate a friendly nation, without even the preliminary of 
a declaration of war, then began. 

The only shadow of excuse that the invaders had at this 
time was the Junction with their forces of a portion of the 
army attached to the reactionary government. With the ex- 
ception of the brilliant repulse at Puebla (May 5, 1862), by 
General Zaragoza — a repulse of infinite moral value to the 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 69 

constitutional Government — the very slow advance of the 
French was not materially impeded. Fresh troops came 
from France, and in January, 1863, the army of invasion, com- 
manded by Marshal Forey, numbered 40,000 men. This 
was exclusive of the considerable Mexican force fighting with 
the French. Puebla was captured May 17, 1863. This con- 
quest forced Juarez to abandon the capital, and during the 
remainder of the war he moved from place to place in the 
northern portion of the Eepublic. The French troops occu- 
pied the City of Mexico June 9, 1863. An Assembly of 
Notables was called, and by this body (July 10th) a declaration 
was made to the effect that the Government of Mexico should 
be an hereditary monarchy under a Catholic Prince ; and 
that the crown should be tendered to Maximilian, Archduke 
of Austria. This prince was selected because, as a represent- 
ative of the house ruling in Spain before the accession of the 
Bourbons (a Bourbon representative being objectionable to 
Napoleon III.), he reunited the Mexico of 1863 with the mon- 
archical Mexico of 1821. Thus, practically, after an inter- 
val of forty-two years, Yturbide's Plan of Iguala was made 
effective. 

Maximilian accepted the crown subject to the two condi- 
tions that (1) he should be elected by a popular vote in 
Mexico, and (2) that the Emperor Napoleon should give him 
armed aid as long as such aid should be required. He 
arrived in the City of Mexico, June 12, 1864, accompanied by 
his wife, Carlotta, daughter of Leopold I., King of the Bel- 
gians. They were crowned with great solemnity, in the 
Cathedral, Emperor and Empress of Mexico. The clerical 
party by which this unfortunate ruler was placed in j)ower 
was greatly disappointed by his government. He did not 
abrogate the Laws of the Reform, as he confidently was ex- 
pected to do ; and the result was that the clerical party 
found the most objectionable features of the constitutional 
government continued, with the added discomfort that the 
enforcing power was a foreign prince upheld by a foreign 
army. 

Upon the strength of the assurance that Juarez had aban- 



70 MEXICAlvr GUIDE. 

doned Mexico and had betaken himself to the United States, 
Maximilian was induced, it is believed by Bazaine, to pub- 
lish a decree (October 3, 1865) declaring all persons found 
in arms against the imperial government bandits, and order- 
ing that such persons, when captured, should be shot with- 
out trial. Under this law the Mexican generals Arteaga and 
Salazar, with Villagomez and Felix Diaz, all of whom were in 
ignorance of its existence, were shot at Uruapam, October 21, 
1865. The moral effect of this act was most disastrous to 
Maximilian's interest. A most vigorous resistance to his 
authority was aroused throughout the country, and niimerous 
victories were gained by the national forces. 

The death-blow to this exotic empire, however, came not 
from Mexico, but from the United States. November 6, 1865, 
Secretary Seward forwarded to Paris the despatch in which 
he informed the French Emperor that the presence of a 
French army in Mexico was a source of " grave reflection " 
to the Government of the United States ; that the United 
States could not tolerate the establishment of an imperial 
government, based on foreign support, in Mexico; that it 
declined to recognize in Mexico any government that was not 
republican. The diplomatic correspondence thus begun 
was continued for six months. At the end of this period, 
upon a plain intimation on the part of Secretary Seward of 
the intended armed intervention of the United States in favor 
of President Juarez, Napoleon (A^Dril 5, 1867) abandoned 
his position, and ordered the evacuation, in November, 1867, 
of Mexico by French troops. It is not too much to assert 
that the benefit conferred by the United States upon Mexico 
at this time offsets the wrong done Mexico seventeen years 
before. 

In addition to this j)eremptory and irresistible pressure 
from without, the collapse of the empire was forced also by 
the condition of its own internal affairs. Maximilian lacked 
the force of character that would have enabled him to strike 
out a strong policy and maintain it. He was possessed by 
an illusive desire to harmonize the conflicting elements, of 
which the Mexican body politic was comi^osed. He offended 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. ^^ 71 

the Conservative party that had placed him in power by con- 
tinuing in effect the Laws of the Eeform that liad emanated 
from the Liberals ; and the Liberals, so far from being pla- 
cated by this concession, resented what they deemed his 
effrontery in putting in effect any laws at all in a country 
that he held by force of foreign arms. He burdened the 
country with a debt far in excess of its possible paying power ; 
and he wasted much of this money in the foolish and child- 
ish pageantry in which his court was engaged. And yet 
it is impossible for any impartial student of his reign not to 
feel a profound sorrow for his dismal failure and tragic end ; 
coupled with a not less profound feeling of contemptuous 
hatred for Bazaiiie, the immediate cause of all his calami- 
ties in Mexico, and of Napoleon III. , whose false friendship 
led him to a place where he had no right to be, and whose 
abject cowardice, before the threat of the Government of the 
United States, surrendered him to absolute failure and death. 
The collapse of the empire under pressure of these several 
causes, foreign and domestic, was rapid. The personal ap- 
peal of Carlotta to Napoleon for aid was unsuccessful, as 
was her appeal to the Pope, and the unfortunate Empress 
went mad. The last of the French troops left Mexico in 
February, 1867 ; and Maximilian, after making arrange- 
ments to leave the country, unwisely decided to remain. 
Juarez, meanwhile, had left Paso del Norte — in which town, 
on the very verge of Mexican territory, he had maintained 
his rights as Constitutional President of the Republic — and 
advanced rapidly toward the south. Miramon, sent out with 
a considerable force to capture Juarez, was defeated by the 
Liberal troops at San Jacinto (February 1st), and fell back in 
confusion to Queretaro. Here he was joined by Maximilian. 
Elsewhere the Liberal army was completely successful. 
Porfirio Diaz captured Puebla, after a siege of twenty-five 
days, on the 2d of April ; defeated Marquez at San Lorenzo 
(April 11th), and at once laid siege to the City of Mexico. 
The siege of Queretaro by Escobedo began early in March 
and lasted until May 15th, when the city fell. Maximilian 
was captured on the Cerro de las Campanas ; and qxx this 



72 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

same hill, together with the generals Miramon and Mexia, 
after formal trial and condemnation, he was shot, at seven 
o'clock on the morning of June 19, 1867. (See Quer^taro.) 
A request on the part of the Government of the United 
States that the life of Maximilian might be spared received 
no attention. Nineteen other general officers of the Impe- 
rial army, being also condemned to death, were pardoned 
by President Juarez. The City of Mexico surrendered to 
Diaz June 21st ; and President Juarez, with the officers of 
his Government, entered the capital in triumph July 15, 
1867. So far from committing excesses in the conquered 
city, as had been greatly feared, a train of provisions for 
gratuitous distribution among the famished populace pre- 
ceded the army ; and when the army did enter perfect order 
was preserved. The most striking feature of this conquest 
was the extraordinary moderation that the conquerors mani- 
fested toward their late foes. 

The Liberal Government made the Constitution of 1857 
once more effective throughout Mexico. A new Congress was 
elected; Juarez was re-elected President (October 12, 1871), 
and the whole energies of the Government were directed 
toward repairing the evils and waste of the war. The result 
of the enlightened policy of internal development that Juarez 
then adopted is seen to-day in the stable and flourishing con- 
dition of the Pepublic. It was Juarez who devised the sys- 
tem of railway and telegraph lines that, even now, when 
only partially completed, knits closely together the several 
parts of the Republic. That the construction of these rail- 
ways has been accomplished by Americans, with American 
money, is another strong reason why Mexico should be grate- 
ful to the United States. 

Various small disturbances occurred in Mexico during the 
three years succeeding the fall of the empire. Serious 
difficulties arose in 1870, incident to the opening of the 
Presidential campaign. No objection could be urged to the 
re-election of Juarez by his own party, for he had not in 
the smallest degree transcended his constitutional powers, nor 
in the least particular done violence to the principles that 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 78 

the Liberal party professed. The pith of the opposition 
developed against him was the sound objection entertained 
by many Liberals to re-electing a man who had already been 
President, either in law or in fact, for upward of ten years. 
Two other candidates were in nomination, Sebastian Lerdo 
de Tejada an d Pornrio Diaz. However, Juarez was re-elected, 
and (December 1, 1871) took the oath of office as Constitu- 
tional President for the third time. Even before his formal 
entry upon his third term there was a rising (October 1st) 
against his authority in the City of Mexico, where Generals 
Negrete and Chavarria pronounced against him, and held 
the National Armory (Ciudadela) for some hours against the 
Government troops. Numerous other small risings occurred 
throughout the country, and these culminated (November 
8th) in the revolt headed by General Diaz, at his hacienda of 
La Noria in Oaxaca. His manifesto, called the Plan of La 
Noria, proposed the convention of an Assembly of Notables 
to reorganize the government ; and that he, Diaz, should be 
Commander-in-Chief of the army until such reorganization 
was effected. The collapse of this movement was caused by 
the sudden death (July 18, 1872) of President Juarez, and 
the accession {ad intermi) to the Presidency of the Bepublic 
of the then President of the Supreme Court, Lerdo de Tejada. 
The policy of Juarez was maintained, as was his actual Cabi- 
net, and in due form of law the order for a special election 
went out. Preceding this, Lerdo Issued a proclamation of 
general amnesty. This moderate course restored peace. 
L/erdo himself was elected President, and took the oath of 
office December 1, 1872. During the three ensuing years 
his administration was prosperous and peaceful. The more 
important events of this period Avere the opening of the 
Mexican Eailway between Mexico and Vera. Cruz, January 1, 
1873 ; the adoption of the Laws of the Eeform as constitu- 
tional amendments, December 14, 1874 ; the opening of the 
National Exhibition of Mexican products in the City of Mex- 
ico, December 5, 1875, from which Exhibition was selected 
the very fine exhibit sent to the Centennial Exhibition at 
Philadelphia in the ensuing year, 
4 



74 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

After this peaceful period anotlier serious revolution be- 
^an. This had its start in the Plan of Tuxtepec, pro- 
nounced in Oaxaca, January 15, 1876, which denied the 
rights of the existing Govern ment^-a x^lan that was seconded 
so rapidly that by midsummer the whole republic once 
more was plunged in civil war. General Porfirio Diaz had 
no apparent connection with this movement at its inception, 
but he presently appeared on the scene and, taking com- 
mand of the revolutionary army, carried on an energetic 
and successful campaign. Lerdo was forced to leave the 
country, and Diaz entered the City of Mexico, November 24, 
1876. He was proclaimed Provisional President, and, after 
a good deal of fighting in various parts of the country, 
he was declared by Congress (May 6, 1877) to be the Con- 
stitutional President for a term ending November 30, 1880. 
Diaz consolidated his power ; j)ut down various small ris- 
ings against his authority — including the execution (on the 
night of June 24-25, 1879) of nine alleged revolutionists at 
Vera Cruz, that excited great indignation throughout the 
country, but that received the approval of the Federal 
courts — and when order was restored set himself to carry- 
ing out some of the projects, notably those for railroad 
building, that Juarez had instituted. Diplomatic relations 
with France also were resumed. As his term of office drew 
near an end so many candidates were placed in nomination 
that serious fears of a new civil war were entertained. Fort- 
unately these fears proved to be groundless. Congress de- 
clared (September 25, 1880) the election as Constitutional 
President of General Manuel Gonzalez ; and on the 1st of 
December following, for the second time in the history of 
the Republic, the retiring President relinquished his office 
to his legally elected successor. 

The more notable events of the administration of Presi- 
dent Gonzalez were the " nickel riots" in 1883, a rising of the 
common people of the City of Mexico against the manipula- 
tion of a new issue of small nickel coins in such a manner 
as to cause a considerable loss to small shopkeepers and 
others of like class ; the collapse of the credit of the Monte 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 75 

de Piedad, throngli the depletion of its reserve by the 
Federal Government ; and the disturbances incident to the 
proposal of a very unpopular plan for liquidating Mexico's 
English debt. The bulk of this debt, !B30,000,000, was con- 
tracted in the early years of the Republic, and, the unpaid 
interest being added to the principal, had increased as long 
ago as the year 1850, to $50,000,000. It was in order to ar- 
range for the payment of some part of this sum that England 
consented to be a party to the intervention of 1864. By a 
convention, concluded in London, September 18, 1884, it was 
agreed on the part of the Mexican commissioners that a 
debt of $85,000,000 should be acknowledged by Mexico as 
representing the original debt of $30,000,000— of which, in 
point of fact, owing to heavy discounts, Mexico had received 
but $14,407,500. When this convention came before Con- 
gress for ratification (November 7th), it was opposed by the 
advanced Liberals with great vigor ; while a popular out- 
break against it, in which the students bore a conspicuous 
part, caused bloodshed in the streets and threatened a revo- 
lutionary outbreak. The matter was compromised by the 
decision (November 20th) to defer all further discussion 
until the return to office of Diaz, then President-elect. The 
one other very important event of the administration of 
Gonzalez was the completion (in April) and formal opening 
(May 5, 1884) of the Mexican Central Railway. 

General Diaz, having been constitutionally elected, again 
became President, December 1, 1884. The treasury of the 
countiy was absolutely empty, and the Rei^ublic was abso- 
lutely without credit. As a means of relief in this embarras- 
sing situation, Congress decided (May 28, 1885) to bring to 
trial the Minister of the Interior and the Secretaiy of the 
Treasury of the Gonzalez administration, with the pui-pose 
of recovering an alleged large deficit in the national ac- 
counts. This plan, however, was not made effective. June 
22d a decree issued ordering the emission of treasury bonds 
to the amount of $25,000,000, and the suspension of pay- 
ments of railway and other subsidies ; and on the same day 
was published a circular by the Secretary of the Interior, 



76 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

ordering a reduction of from fifty to fifteen per cent, in the 
salaries of all Government employees receiving pay of more 
than $500 per annum, including the reduction of the salary 
of the President from $30,000 to $15,000. Also on the same 
day issued a law for the consolidation of the national debt, 
in which was admitted an item of $51,000,000 due to English 
creditors. These heroic measures have resulted in placing 
the government of President Diaz upon a tolerably stable 
financial basis ; and the recognition of the English debt, 
coupled with the definite plans now (November, 1886) in 
course of formation for payment of interest upon it, have 
done much to restore the foreign credit of the Eepublic. 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 77 



VII. PRACTICAL information: 

What to see in Mexico. A flying trip tlirougli Mexico, 
visiting only easily accessible places, may be arranged some- 
thing in this way : a day in Merida, while the steamer lies at 
Progreso ; a day in Vera Cruz ; three days in a trip to Jalapa ; 
a day in Orizaba ; three days in Puebla (including one day 
devoted to an excursion to Cholula) ; half a day in Tlaxcala 
(the morning train from Puebla to Sta Ana, thence by tram- 
way to Tlaxcala, returning in time to take the afternoon train 
to Apizaco) ; a week in the City of Mexico ; one day in Tex- 
coco ; three days in Cuernavaca ; three days in Cuautla ; two 
days in Morelia ; two days in Patzcuaro ; half a day in Acam- 
baro ; two days in San Miguel de Allen de ; a day in Celaya ; 
two days in Queretaro ; two days in Guanajuato ; two days in 
Aguas Calientes ; two days in Zacatecas. (It is not worth 
while to visit Chihuahua, as there is little of interest in the 
town.) This outline, including the time sj)ent in the jour- 
ney to and from Mexico, and allowing a small margin of time 
for contingencies, represents a trip of about two months' 
duration. The mental results of such an expedition will be 
somewhat kaleidoscoj)ic, probably ; but no more so than re- 
sult from a similarly rapid run through Europe. 

When to go to Mexico. The most desirable time to 
visit Mexico (the visit being confined to the Plateau) is be- 
tween April and October. But as the most desirable time 
to get away from the north is between January and April, 
there is not much probability that many American travellers 
will see Mexico when it is at its best. Those who go to 
Mexico for the winter will find the climate of Orizaba, or 
even of Puebla, or Morelia, more satisfactory than the cli- 
mate of the City of Mexico. Travellers of this more leisurely 
class will do well to defer their visit to the capital until the 
middle or end of March. 



78 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

By Rail to Mexico. At present the only all-rail route 
to the city of Mexico is to El Paso, Texas, and thence south- 
ward over the Mexican Central Railway. The running time 
to El Paso from New York is a little more than four days ; 
to the City of Mexico from El Paso, sixty-two hours. Mon- 
terey and Saltillo, the more important towns of Northeas- 
tern Mexico, are reached most directly by wa,y of the Mex- 
ican National Eailway, starting from Laredo, Texas. The 
running time between New York and Laredo is about four 
and a haK days. It is possible also by tliis route, taking 
coach from Saltillo to San Isidro, on the line of the Mexi- 
can Central, to reach the City of Mexico. The coach charge 
for luggage, however, is excessive ; and so are the rates for 
way passengers and for way luggage, on the Mexican Cen- 
tral (see Express Service). The through fare from New 
York to the City of Mexico (all-rail route) is about $125 ; to 
which must be added about $50 for sleeping-car fare, meals, 
and incidental expenses. 

By Sea to Mexico. The direct sea route from the North 
Atlantic States to Mexico is from New York to Vera Cruz, 
Steamers, leaving New York every other Thursday, usually 
reach Havana on Monday or Tuesday, and remain there one 
or two days ; Progreso, thirty-six hours after leaving Ha- 
vana, and remain there one or two days ; Vera Cruz, thirty- 
six hours after leaving Progreso, Calls are made occasion- 
ally at the ports of Frontera and Tampico. Under ordinary 
conditions, the through time from New York to Vera Cruz 
is ten to eleven days ; New York to the City of Mexico, 
twelve to thirteen days. Fare, New York to Vera Cruz, $85 ; 
Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico (Mexican money), $16. The 
charge for extra luggage (more than thirty-three pounds) on, 
this road is excessive. On through tickets from New York 
to the City of Mexico one hundred and fifty pounds of bag- 
gage is allowed. 

From New York to Vera Cruz by sea, by way of Galveston 
(involving a change of steamers at that port) the fare is $70. 
The sea journey can be made, also, via Nassau, Havana, and 
Vera Cruz ; and via New Orleans, Galveston, and Vera Cruz. 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 79 

By Sea and Rail. A combination, land and water, 
route, is possible by going to New Orleans or Galveston by 
rail, and thence (by steamers leaving each of these jDorts 
fortnightly) to Vera Cruz by sea ; or, by going to New Or- 
leans or Galveston (by steamers leaving New York weekly 
for each of these x^orts) by sea, and thence to El Paso or 
Laredo by rail. 

Choosing a Route. In choosing a route the main fact 
to be kept in mind is — at least by travellers who do not ob- 
ject to seafaring — that the best return for money expended 
can be got by making the journey to Mexico by sea and 
from Mexico by land. The converse of this arrangement 
gives a less picturesque result (the effect of the ascent from 
the coast to the Plateau being lost), and is less satisfac- 
tory in the matter of temperatures. During March or April 
the sudden descent from the cool table-lands to the hot 
lands of the coast is imprudent ; and in an " early " year is. 
exceedingly dangerous. Should winter sojourners be de- 
layed by sickness or other cause until fever is rejported in 
Vera Cruz, the return journey absolutely should be made 
overland. 

Expenses. Ten dollars a day is a liberal estimate of ex- 
penses for a short trip in Mexico, including expenses of 
travel between New York and the Mexican frontier. Two 
or four people travelling together can make the trip very 
comfortably for $8 apiece a day. If the trip is prolonged 
for several months this rate can be very materially lessened. 
In the City of Mexico board and lodging can be had by the 
month for !^2 a day. In the provincial cities, by bargaining 
closely, board and lodging can be had for ^1.50 a day. As 
all of the Mexican cities are small, and as nearly all are well 
provided with street cars, carriage hire (usually a consider- 
able item in foreign travel) practically is eliminated from 
the expense account. And as all of the sights in Mexico are 
free, the numerous petty drains upon the purse, that make 
by no means a petty aggregate, incident to EurojDean travel 
are unknown. Moreover, servants and sacristans are bliss- 
fully ignorant of the fee standards of Europe, and accept 



80 MEXICA]^ GUIDE. 

thankfully sucli occasional medios and reales as chance to 
come to them. The total result of these, and other prac- 
ticable and legitimate small economies, is a saving that per- 
sons who have travelled in Europe will regard wonderingly, 
but with a glad surprise. 

Exchange. The best form in which to carry funds for 
the journey is that of drafts on New York. These can be 
sold throughout Mexico (excepting, perhaps, on the west 
coast, where drafts on San Francisco will be more available) 
to better advantage than drafts on any other American city. 
In the City of Mexico bank-notes of American issae can be 
sold for a little less than drafts ; and American gold can be 
sold for a little less than notes. American silver is current 
at par. Enough American currency should be reserved for 
the return trip, for each transfer from one currency into the 
other entails a loss ; and, apart from this, it is not always 
easy to procure American money in Mexico. 

If Mexican money can be bought before starting — in New 
York, or elsewhere — a better rate can be obtained than in 
Mexico. If a stop is made at El Paso the necessary Mexican 
currency can be procured at fair rates at El Paso banks. 
Mexican money also is for sale in the station of the Mexican 
Central Railway at Paso del Norte. If money is bought 
here the purchase should be limited to what is required in 
order to reach the first stopping-point in Mexico, for the 
rate is high. No Mexican bank-notes should be accepted, 
save those issued by the Banco Nacional and the Bank of 
London, Mexico & South America. For a journey away from 
the lines of railroad only silver should be carried. 

Mexican Money. A metric system of coinage was 
adopted some years ago, and stray five- and ten-cent pieces 
are in circulation ; but in naming prices the old system is in 
use in all shops, and everywhere among the common people. 
The half- and quarter-dollars in common use are never 
spoken of as pieces of twenty-five or fifty cejitavos, but as 
quatro reales and dos (usually sounded do') reales : and some- 
times by their formal names of toston and peseta. In ordi- 
nary small dealings the unit is the real: the price for a 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION-. 



81 



thing is ires (3) or diez (10) or veinte (20) reales, or whatever 
number of reales it may happen to be. In barterings with 
fruit or other small dealers centavos sometimes are men- 
tioned ; but, even with these, prices usually are made in 
tlacos — the smallest coin of the old system, worth l^ cents. 
In 1883 nickel coins of one, two, three, and five centavos were 
nttered. After the ' ' nickel riots " of that year they were 
withdrawn. In the subjoined table the values of the several 
coins are expressed in Mexican dollars, reales, and centavos. 
The gold coins practically are unknown except as denomi- 
nations of value : 



Oiiza de oro (gold ounce) =$16 



M^dia onza de oro. 

Pistola 

Escudo de oro . 
Escudito de oro. 
Peso (^silver) .... 



8 
4 
2 
1 
1 



Toston (4 reales) .... =50 cts. 

Peseta (2 reales) =25 cts. 

Real , = 12^ cts. 

Medio real = 6^ cts. 

Cuartilla (copper) . . . = 3 cts. 



Tlaco (copper 



= 1-J-cts. 



Mexican Measures. While the French metric system 
of measures has been adopted by the Republic of Mexico, 
the law making this system compulsory is still suspended. 
(The Act of Congress of June 3, 1885, defers the operation 
of this law until January 1, 1889.) In the shops goods are 
sold by the vara (33^ inches, nearly), a,nd distances usually 
are reckoned by the legua (approximately 2.6 miles). 
Lengths less than a vara usually are described as fractions 
of a vara, and distances less than a legua usually are de- 
scribed as fractions of a legua. The old measures are : 



Cordel 



linea . . 
pulgada 



= 0.0064 inch. 

.... = 0.0763 " 

.... = 0.687 '' 

.... = 0.916 " 

= 8.25 inches 

.... =11. 

Vara = 2 feet 9.3141 inches, or 2. 784 feet. 



Punto . . , 
Linea . . . 
Dedo. ., 
Pulgada. 
Palmo . . 
Pie 



1 l 

_\ 
J 2 

-fg- vara, 

_L_ 

1 -i 

L 
4 
X 



pie . 
vara, 
vara. 



= 50 varas = 137.50 



Legua = 100 cordels or 5,000 varas = 2,637 miles. 

The Mexican vara, the unit of this system, is about one- 
fourth of one per cent, longer than that of Burgos, the Gas- 



82 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



tilian standard measure, which was originally known as Sol- 
omon's pace^ — tradition telling that it is the length of the 
pace, or stride, taken by King Solomon in measuring off the 
site of the temple at Jerusalem. 

In square measure the vara also is the unit. An ap- 
proximate reduction of varas into acres may be made by 
dividing the number of varas by 5,646, rejecting the fractions. 
A legua of land, known also — because of its use for cattle- 
raising — as a sitio de ganada mayor, is a j^lot 5,000x5,000 
varas square, and contains, approximately, 4,400 acres. An 
liadenda, strictly, is a plot 5,000x25,000 varas square, con- 
taining, approximately, 22,000 acres. A fanega is a plot 
276 X 184 varas square, containing, apiDroximately, 8|- acres ; 
it derives its name from the fanega (nearly 2 bushels), the 
measure of grain necessary for its sowing. 

Kilometres and Miles. — The only approach to a pop- 
ular use of the metric system is the custom of the railway 
companies to give upon their time-tables distances in kilome- 
tres. In view of this custom the following table sometimes 
will be found convenient in ai^proximating distances in kilo- 
metres and in miles. A metre is, exactly, 39.37079 inches. 
For purposes of approximate estimate it may be considered 
a yard and a tenth. A kilometre is, exactly, 0.62138 of a 
mile. For purposes of approximate estimate it may be con- 
sidered five-eighths of a mile, upon which basis this table 
is prepared. 



Kilometres. 


MUes, 


1 


Vs 


2 


IH 


3 


1% 


4 


^% 


5 


3 


6 


3?^ 


7 


4^ 


8 


5 


9 


5^ 



Kilometres. 


Miles. 


Kilometres. 


Miles. 


10 


63^ 


100 


62 


20 


12>^ 


200 


124 


30 


19 


300 


186 


40 


25 


400 


249 


50 


31 


500 


311 


CO 


37 


600 


373 


70 


433< 


700 


435 


80 


50 


800 


497 


90 


56 


900 


559 



Passports. Circumstances may arise, of course, in which 



the 



'ass ports. Uircumstances may arise, oi course, m wnicn 
protection afi'orded to a traveller in Mexico by a passport 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 83 

will be required ; but the chances are that the traveller for 
jileasure only, especially if his journeyings are coiifined to 
railway lines, will have no use whatever for this ornamental 
but rather cumbrous document. American citizens taking 
up a residence in Mexico, and engaging in business there, or 
American citizens who expect to visit remote jDortions of the 
Republic, certainly should provide themselves with pass- 
ports. Persons wishing to obtain passports can procure 
blank forms of application fi'om the State Department, 
"Washington. In writing for blank forms the a^Dplicant 
should declare whether he is a native citizen or a naturalized 
citizen, and must give his full name and post-office address. 
His communication should be addressed : Department of 
State, Washington, D. 0. ; and should be indorsed : Passport 
Division. 

Customs Regulations. As a rule, honest travellers 
have no trouble in passing a custom-house. It is cheaper to 
declare dutiable articles than it is to be fined for trying to 
smuggle them. Promptness should be shown in opening 
baggage in readiness for inspection ; and undue haste should 
not be shown in closing it when the inspection is at an end. 

Mexican Regulations. As a rule, Mexican customs officials 
are polite and obliging. In the small matter of personal 
luggage, any suggestion of financial transactions would be a 
mistake. Passengers are required to open their baggage for 
inspection, and if they have dutiable articles to declare them. 
The free list includes : clothing for jpersonal use, if not ex- 
cessive in quantity ; articles worn or in use, as a watch, 
chain, buttons, cane, etc. ; one or two fire-arms, with their 
accessories, and one hundred charges ; each adult male pas- 
senger may bring in ninety-nine cigars, forty packages of 
cigarettes, and half a kilogramme (1^0 lb.) of snuff or chew- 
ing tobacco. Professional men or artisans are permitted to 
bring in free the instruments or tools indispensable or most 
essential to the exercise of their profession or trade. No 
charge is made for examining baggage. The rules by which 
examination of personal baggage is regulated are ordered to 
be kept in a conspicuous place in the search room, printed 



84 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

in Spanish, English, French, and German. Another, bnt 
very perfunctory examination is made on entering the City 
of Mexico. 

Umted States Regulations. With the eccentricities of the 
New York custom-honse most of us are painfully familiar. The 
frontier custom-houses of Nogales, Eagle Pass, Laredo, and 
El Paso are in pleasing contrast with the New York establish- 
meut. At all of these points the revenues are collected faith- 
fully, but a decided desire is manifested to spare travellers 
as much as ]DOssible from personal annoyance. The American 
regulations practically are the same as the Mexican. The free 
list includes : * amber beads ; animals imported for purposes 
of exhibition or breeding ; stuffed birds ; books, engravings, 
bound or unbound, etchings, maps, and charts, which shall 
have been printed and manufactured more than twenty years 
at the date of the importation (of later date, 25 per cent, ad 
val.) ; professional books imported by and with their owners ; 
books, household effects, or libraries, or parts of libraries in 
use, of persons or families from foreign countries, if used 
abroad by them not less than one year, and not intended 
for any other person or persons, nor for sale ; cabinets of 
coins, medals, and all other collections of antiquities ; 
coffee ; coins, gold, silver, cox3per, fossils ; manuscripts ; 
mother-of-pearl; personal and household effects, not mer- 
chandise, of citizens of the United States dying abroad; 
tortoise and other shells unmanufactured ; wearing apparel in 
actual use, and other personal effects (not merchandise) ; 
professional books, implements, instruments, and tools of 
trade, occupation, or employment of j)ersons arriving in the 
United States (exclusive of machinery or other articles im- 
XDorted for use in any manufacturing establishment, or for 
sale). And to this free-list our almost too-paternal Govern- 
ment thoughtfully adds, among other things : hop-poles, 
sauer-kraut, curling-stones, joss-sticks, skeletons, turtles, 
and bologna- sausages. By the Treasury decision of April 3, 
1885, " it is decided that any cigars in excess of fifty, in the 

* Act of March 3, 1883. 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 85 

baggage of any one passenger, shall be subject to duties, or 
to a fine equal to the duties, as the case may require." 

Tins much of the Treasury circular of July 29, 1878, still 
is in eftect : " Tourists are often under the erroneous im- 
pression that all articles purchased for their personal use, or 
for the use of friends, or intended as presents, are exempt 
from duty. Officers of the customs and United States con- 
sular officers abroad are therefore instructed to inform 
them, as far as practicable, of the laws and regulations relat- 
ing to such importations, and especially of the provisions of 
the Revised Statutes imposing penalties for the unlawful 
importation of merchandise into the United States. All 
articles subject to duty, whether contained in baggage or 
otherwise, must be reported to the customs officers on 
arrival at a port in the United States, under the penalties of 
Section 2802 of the Revised Statutes, which is as follows: 
' Whenever any article subject to duty is found in the bag- 
gage of any 23erson arriving within the United States, which 
was not, at the time of making entry for such baggage, men- 
tioned to the collector before whom such entry was made, 
by the person making entry, such article shall be forfeited, 
and the person in whose baggage it is found shall be liable 
to a penalty of treble the value of such article.' Persons 
who arrive in the United States will be required to make 
due entry, on blanks to be furnished them by the i^roper 
customs officer, of the articles believed to be entitled to free 
admission under the provisions of the law above referred to, 
and to make oath, as XDrovided for by Section 2799 of the 
Revised Statutes, that the entry contains a just and true 
account of the contents of the package or packages men- 
tioned therein, and that no such packages contain any 
merchandise whatever, other than the articles specified. A 
separate entry must be made of all dutiable articles con- 
tained in the baggage, to which the oath of the passenger 
must also be annexed. Such entry must specify the name of 
the article, the precise quantity thereof, and the exact cost or 
foreign market value. It will be the duty of the surveyor of 
customs to see that the baggage-entry is made by each cabin 



86 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

passenger, and filed in the custom-house. Blank forms will 
be furnished by the customs oflScers to the passengers, 
and the oflSicers of the steamers are hereby respectfully re- 
quested to co-operate with this Department in its efforts to 
carry out the law by delivering to each passenger one or 
more of the blanks." 

Nervous travellers may be assured by the knowledge that, 
in point of fact, a custom-house is not as black as this cir- 
cular paints it. Ordinarily, the search is not severe ; at the 
frontier custom-houses the filling out of blanks is not re- 
quired, and, as already said, the honest traveller has little 
trouble. But it is well that travellers should know of the 
rigors as well as of the leniencies of the law. 

Lu nch- Basket. For the traveller by rail a lunch-basket 
is a necessary part of the outfit. "West of the Missouri River 
railway trains make stops for meals with a cheerful disregard 
of the times and seasons that ordinary mortals regard as ap- 
projjriate for the discharge of that office ; and the length of 
the stop (never more than twenty-five minutes, and some- 
times no more than eighteen minutes) is better adapted to 
stoking (it cannot be called eating) a condensed attack of in- 
digestion than acquiring that sustenance which is neces- 
sary for the maintenance of human life. The lunch-basket 
should contain canned meats — Richardson & Robbins' canned 
chicken and chicken-livers (not their canned game, which 
takes u-p too much room in pro]3ortion to the amount of food 
carried) are the best. If the party is large, a canned ham 
may be added to this stock. Bread may be bought at the 
lunch counters connected with the railway eating-houses, as 
may also eggs, sandwiches, cold meats (of dubious quality), 
coffee, and tea. A bottle of condensed coffee, a package of 
tea, and a spirit-lamp make the position of the traveller im- 
pregnable in the event (highly probable) of making the 
breakfast stop between 10 and 11 a.m. Cooked gluten (to be 
had at the agency of the Health Food Co., Tenth Street and 
Fourth Avenue, New York) is a very valuable article in trav- 
elling. It is highly nutritious, occupies very little room, 
and needs only to be stirred into a tumbler of water in order 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 87 

to be eaten. Dried prunes (those put up by Violett & Co. 
are the best) also should be carried. Also, enough sherry 
or claret to make an allowance of one bottle for each mem- 
ber of the party. The furniture of the lunch-basket should 
consist of a plate, knife, fork, spoon, cup and saucer for each 
member of the party, and a bundle of paper napkins — those 
•which are crinkly, like crape, are the best. 

Eating. The majority of travellers make the serious 
mistake of eating too much. It is much better on a long 
journey to err in the other direction, though there is no es- 
pecial reason, other than the general weakness and fallibility 
of humanity, why there should be any error in this matter 
at all. For most jDeople, one heavy meal a day is quite suf- 
ficient while travelling. This should be taken at the rail- 
way eating-house, and as near noon as possible. If the 
breakfast stop is not made until 11 a.m., or later, the heavy 
meal should be eaten then. For breakfast, coffee and bread 
is sufficient for most people. Fruit, bread, crackers, or 
cooked gluten, can be eaten in the forenoon in case of hunger, 
but not to kill time. Supper can be made about 6.30 p.m., 
on canned meats, bread (bought at the lunch-counter at 
the dinner stop), and sherry-and- water, or weak tea. Before 
turning in at night six or eight prunes should be eaten as a 
preventive of constipation. The wisdom of this simple 
regimen will be admitted by any one who will faithfully 
carry it out. 

Exercise. In the course of a long railway journey every 
opportunity for exercise should be made the most of. A 
stop of five minutes gives time enough for a brisk walk up 
and down the station platform ; and the breakfast and supper 
stops (these meals being taken, as suggested, on the train), 
can be devoted to a good mile's walk. But this exercise 
always should be taken on the platform ; it is a very unsafe 
thing to go far from one's train. 

Porters and Stewards. Always begin by feeing these 
important functionaries roundly. This removes from their 
minds all doubt as to your intentions toward them, and sug- 
gests the pleasing hope that they will receive yet another 



88 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

and a larger fee at the end of the run. This hope, in part, 
should be realized ; but in strict proportion to the amount 
and quality of service rendered, and should be accompanied 
by a small homily to the effect that they are paid well be- 
cause they have done well, or are j)aid little — or not paid 
anything more — because they have been careless. If travel- 
lers generally would adopt this system the service of steam- 
ships and Pullman cars would be wonderfully improved in- a 
short space of time. 

Pulque, Wine, Spirits, Beer. Whenever pulque can 
be obtained, it should be used in preference to any other 
drink. It is thoroughly wholesome, and has a tendency to 
decrease the bilious habit that in many persons is induced 
by an altitude of a mile above the sea level. As compared 
with the delicious pulque to be had in the maguey region of 
Apam, the pulque sold in the City of Mexico deserves little 
praise. It should be drunk, however, from a sense of duty. 

Excellent wines may be bought in the City of Mexico. At 
the larger grocery stores the prices are very reasonable ; at 
the hotels they are extortionate. In the other cities the wine 
usually sold (for a dollar the bottle) is a heavy red Spanish 
wine, highly astringent. Sometimes, in Monterey and Sal- 
tillo, a very good native wine, made at Parras, may be ob- 
tained ; usually for only four or five dollars the dozen. The 
white wine of Parras is the best ; though the red is sound 
and of good flavor. A wine also is made from the juice of 
the quince, vino de inemhrillo, that is not unpalatable. The 
brandy of Parras is famous all over Mexico. A strong dis- 
tilled spirit is made from the root of the maguey, the best 
variety of which is the tequila de pechuga. It has something 
the taste of Scotch whiskey. It costs seventy-five cents a 
bottle. 

Almost eveiywhere on the lines of railroad a very good 
native beer can be bought for a real the bottle — in the hotels 
of the city two reales is charged. It is a much better and 
purer article than the beer that is imported from the United 
States, and that is sold for from two to five times as much as 
the native brew. 



PKACTICAL INFORMATION". 89 

Sweetmeats. The Mexicans are great lovers of sweet 
things, and dulees of various sorts are for sale all over Mexico. 
The more famous of these sweets are made at Celaya, Quere- 
taro, and Morelia. The Celaya didce (the manufactory of La 
Fama is the best) is a glutinous paste compounded of milk, 
sugar, and flavoring matter, boiled together for a long time. 
The Queretaro dulce is an excellent nougat. The Morelia 
dulce is a stiff jam of guava, quince, and other fruits, and is 
the best of all. 

CSothing. In making the Journey to Mexico by sea, 
summer clothing will be required in crossing the Gulf, and 
in crossing the hot country of the coast. On the Mexican 
plateau clothing suitable to spring or fall will be required, 
and the more prudent underwear will be winter flannels. 
Overcoats and shawls will not often be required on the street 
by day, but they should be at hand in readiness to put on 
when churches or other buildings are entered, and for use 
in the evenings. It is a fact that in Mexico wrapping up is 
much more necessary in the house than out of doors. Even 
when a norther at Vera Cruz sends a chill across the moun- 
tains, the streets rarely are cold ; but at such times the 
houses frequently are very cold indeed. The comfort of a 
fire practically is an unobtainable luxury. 

Doctors and Medicines. In the City of Mexico there 
are several excellent medical men of both schools, allopathic 
and homoeopathic ; and, occasionally, a good doctor is met 
with in the provincial cities. As a rule, however, the medi- 
cal practice outside of the capital is of the old-fashioned 
heroic type, that only a person blessed with a most vigorous 
constitution can encounter safely. It is wiser, therefore, to 
carry along a supply of such ordinary medicines as are likely 
to be required ; and, in the event of serious illness, to take 
the chances of travel, and get to the capital as quickly as 
possible. In case of yellow fever, it is much safer to employ 
a native doctor than a foreign doctor. In case of small-pox, 
the wisest course is to inquire among the servants for a good 
old-woman nurse, and with this attendant to remove the 
patient to an isolated house, where careful nursing, with 



90 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

plenty of fresh air, nsually can be depended upon to assure 
a good recovery. During convalescence, the room should be 
kept darkened ; the only important matter that a good Mexican 
nurse is likely to forget. As a preliminary to an extended 
journey in the interior of Mexico, vaccination is very necessary. 
It is not an unwise preliminary to going to Mexico at all. 

Cargadores. In all the larger towns the combined du- 
ties of a local express and district telegraioh service are per- 
formed by cargadores (porters). These men are duly licensed 
by the municipal authorities, and wear upon their breasts 
large brass plates, on which their respective numbers are 
inscribed. (When employing one it is well to make a note of 
his number.) As a class they are renowned for their trust- 
worthiness, and safely may be employed to carry luggage, 
parcels, or letters. The fee varies with the service per- 
formed, and a bargain always should be made in advance. 
When luggage, or any heavy burden, is carried an extra 
medio is expected for drink. 

Servants. A good Mexican servant is a very good article 
of servant indeed, and is about as rare as a good servant of 
any other nationality. In the cities, men-servants may be 
hired for from twelve to twenty dollars (Mexican money) a 
month. Women-servants, much more difficult to obtain, are 
paid a little less. In hiring servants references should be 
insisted upon and should be verified. 

Fees. Better service can be had in Mexico, as in other 
parts of the world, by paying extra for it. The fees to ser- 
vants, however, should be small. For some inscrutable reason, 
a Mexican servant who receives a large fee does his work 
badly — far more badly than if he had received no fee at all. 
Waiters at restaurants should not be given more than a 
medio for each cover at each meal ; chambermen at hotels 
an occasional real. It is customary also to give coachmen a 
medio in addition to their regular fare. As a general rule, 
governing all but very exceptional cases, no casual fee 
should exceed a real. 

Baths. In even the smaller Mexican towns very fair 
baths usually are found ; and in the cities the bathing ar- 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 91 

rangements, with a few exceptions, are excellent. The haths 
rarely are found in hotels, and. sometimes (as at San Miguel 
de Allende, where they are delightful) are far out in the 
suburbs. The usual price for a hot bath in Mexico is two 
reales ; for a cold bath, one real. This usually includes soap 
and towels — and the doubtful privilege of a comb and 
brush. 

Hotels. In the provincial cities the hotels are fairly 
good. In most of them food as well as lodging is provided ; 
and the usual rate for food and lodging is two dollars a day. 
Lodging without food, and food without lodging, usually 
cost one dollar a day each. Single meals usually cost four 
reales — sometimes six. The charge for lodging is made 
for the bed, and two beds usually are placed in one room. 
Double beds, save in a few of the larger hotels, are rare. 
In taking rooms at a hotel, a bargain always should be made 
in advance. Usually a considerable reduction, from one 
quarter to one-half less than the price by the day, is made 
for terms of a week or more. The time of intended occu- 
pancy always should be stated, if it is to be longer than a 
day or two, when the rooms are hired. Outside of the larger 
cities the beds are ax3t to be hard, and everywhere the pil- 
lows are of hair. 

Restaurants. Even in very small towns, lacking a hotel, 
a restaurant [fonda) usually is found. The food provided 
at these restaurants is of the country, but usually is palatable 
and fairly served. In the small towns the price for a meal usu- 
ally is four reales, and six reales is the usual price of board by 
the day. The food served is : for breakfast, .coffee and bread 
(though eggs and meat usually can be obtained also) ; for mid- 
day breakfast, soup, rice, meat, bread, a salad, beans (frijoles), 
sweets, and coffee ; for supper, chocolate or coffee, and bread 
— with the possible addition of meat and eggs. In the 
larger cities the dinner usually is a repetition of the mid- 
day breakfast. In even very small towns of unpromising 
appearance a satisfactory meal can be obtained by a special 
order backed by a promise to pay a trifle more than the 
regular price. 



92 MEXICAl^ GUIDE. 

Official Permits. As a rule, Mexican officials are ex- 
ceedingly courteous in granting permits to visit such insti- 
tutions as are not open to the general public. The follow- 
ing form of application will be found useful by travellers 
whose Spanish is not perfect. In the City of Mexico it 
should be addressed, for permission to visit the military col- 
lege of Chapultepec (the grounds are open to the public), the 
National Armory, or other Government institution, to the 
Governor of the Palace. In all other cases the address may 
be to the Administrador of the institution that the traveller 
desires to see — this may not always be exactly correct, but 
it will be near enough for practical purposes. 

Sil. GOBERNADOB DE PaLACIO, 

Presente. 
or 
Sr. Administrador de , 

Presente. 
Agradeceria a Vd. que, si no tiene inconveniente para ello, se 
sirviese expedirme uu permiso escrito para visitar 

Con sentlmientos de consideracion, quedo de Vd., 

atento seguro servidor. 



Hotel de 



Mexico, de de 188 — . 

Church Visiting. In their own interest, as well as in 
the interest of abstract decency, visitors to churches should 
conduct themselves reverently while in such sacred edifices. 
A respectful stranger very frequently will receive a courteous 
attention, in being directed where to find what is most beau- 
tiful or curious, that assuredly will not be accorded to 
strangers who are vulgarly noisy or vulgarly frank in their 
expressions of derision and contempt. Attentions of this 
sort frequently are volunteered, and are the more welcome 
because frequently there is no one to be found in the churches 
to act as a guide. As a rule, the churches that have i3er- 
tained to nunneries will be found more quaint and interest- 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 93 

ing than those which have pertained to monasteries ; and the 
more desirable churches to visit, of course, are those which 
have not been remodelled in modern times. It is well to 
make a point of seeing the ante-sacristy and sacristy, as in 
these places usually are foimd ancient and curious articles 
retired from active service in the church, as well as inter- 
esting pictures. In visiting shrines (as at Los Remedies or 
Ocotlan) the visitor should ask to see the camarin — the little 
chapel in the rear of the high altar. The richest treasures 
and most curious possessions of a shrine usually are found 
in this place. If neither the priest in charge nor the sa- 
cristan can be found, the old woman who sells rosaries and 
holy images will be found a useful ally. She is to be pro- 
pitiated by spending a real or two in purchase of her sacred 
wares, and by complimentary remarks upon the church, and 
upon the cat that usually bears her company. When the 
sacristan happens to be available as a guide he should 
receive a fee of a real or two for his services. Persons even 
who do not read Spanish will find their visits to churches 
materially aided by either of the church almanacs — the " Al- 
manaque Catolico y Historico," or the " Almanaque Galvan," 
which may be bought in almost any book-store for two 
reales. These books will give the saints' days for the cur- 
rent year, and by visiting in the morning the churches dedi- 
cated to the saint whose day it is, a special service, of a 
more or less imposing character, usually will be found in 
progress. On the other hand, these almanacs will show 
when special services are not in progress, and when, there- 
fore, the church may be visited without encountering a crowd. 
Priestly Aid. In the smaller cities and towns the best 
results in sight -seeing can be secured (by persons speaking- 
Spanish) by calling at once upon the parish priest and ask- 
ing his advice and assistance. This move has a two-fold re- 
sult : the priest, almost without exception, is exceedingly 
courteous in advising the visitor what is most worthy to be 
seen, and in aiding him to see it ; and the people of the 
town, seeing that the stranger is on terms of amity with the 
cura, are prone to render further practical aid of a like nat- 



94 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Tire. The parish priests of Mexico, as a class, it is not in- 
appropriate to add here, are men of devout and godly lives, 
who are entitled to all honor and reverence. Since the Laws 
of the Eeform, there is nothing to tempt men to adopt the 
clerical life save a genuine love of God and a strong desire 
to minister to the religious welfare of their fellows accord- 
ing to His ordinances. Apart from the selfish motive of ob- 
taining from them increased facilities in sight-seeing, most 
travellers will find much pleasure in the society of these 
simple-minded and godly -minded men. 

Beggars. There are not many beggars in Mexico ; but 
the few found there are apt to be most resolutely persist- 
ent in their demands. They can be shaken off by the pay- 
ment of a few coppers, or they may be exorcised by the for- 
mula : Perdona me, hermano, en el nombre de dios — of which 
phrase, usually, the words perdona me will suffice. 

Hackney Coaches. In almost all the cities of Mexico 
(Zacatecas and Guanajuato are notable exceptions) hackney 
coaches are plentiful. The fare usually is four reales an 
hour ; and a lower rate can be obtained, usually, should a 
coach be hired for half a day or longer. In case of hiring 
by the hour, the driver should have the precise time im- 
pressed upon his mind by being shown a watch ; and at the 
end of the drive, should he manifest a disposition to insist 
upon over-payment, the traveller should make a serious de- 
monstration of entering the coach again, the while saying, 
with much firmness and decision, " Vamonos a la administra- 
cion " — a threat that never fails, when the driver really is in 
the wrong, to bring him to terms. It is customary to add a 
medio to the regular fare. The coaches usually found in the 
provincial cities are ruinous structures, dating from a remote 
antiquity, and are apt to be itinerant asylums of fleas. In 
nearly all the Mexican cities street railways now are in 
operation. 

Postal Arrangements. The letter rate from Mexico 
to the United States and Canada is five cents for each half 
ounce or fraction of a half ounce ; to other countries in the 
Postal Union, ten cents. The rates on j)rinted matter are 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 95 

' one cent per ounce and three quarters, or fraction thereof, to 
the United States and Canada ; and two cents to EuroiDean 
countries in the Postal Union. The limit of weight for 
printed matter is 4.4 pounds (2 kilogrammes). Letters and 
packages may be registered on payment of a fee of ten cents. 
The rate on letters for points within the Eepublic of Mexico 
is ten cents for each half ounce or fraction thereof ; on news- 
papers, or other printed matter, one cent for each two 
ounces, or fraction thereof. 

The J)rocess of extracting a letter from the Mexican post- 
office is somewhat complicated. "Within an hour, if the 
mail ha^Dpens to be small and if the postmaster happens to 
be active, after a mail is received, an alphabetical list of the 
letters received is hung in some conspicuous place about the 
post-office. Each list is dated and each letter is numbered. 
In applying for a letter it is necessary to give the date of the 
list and the number of the letter. To avoid unnecessarv 
complications with the Spanish tongue, an effective plan is 
to write these necessary facts, together with the name of the 
inquirer, upon a card and hand the card to the mail clerk. 
In addition to the daily lists, several of which hang together, 
with the latest outermost, there are lists of letters remaining 
unclaimed at the end of each month. The lists are arranged 
alphabetically, but as a measure of precaution it is well to go 
through the entire list of each day. In the small post-offices 
of the interior the section "E " in the list always should be 
examined, as the suffix "Esq." not infrequently is converted 
into a proper name. Especially valuable letters may be sent 
to many parts of the EexDublic by express (see Express 
Service, and also paragraph Post-office in chapter on City of 
Mexico). 

Telegraph. Government wires connect all the principal 
cities and towns of Mexico. This service is fairly punctual 
and trustworthy. The Mexican, Mexican Central, Mexican 
National, Interoceanic, and Sonora Railway Companies main- 
tain telegraph lines which parallel their respective tracks. 
The Mexican Central and Mexican National (northern di- 
vision) wires connect with the Western Union wires at El 



96 MEXECAN GUIDE. 

Paso and Laredo, respectively. The Mexican & South 
American Cable Company has a branch wire from Vera Cruz 
to the City of Mexico, and connects with the telegraph sys- 
tem of the United States at Galveston. (See also telegraph 
o£Sces in the City of Mexico.) 

Express Service. An express service is maintained 
by Wells, Fargo & Co. over the lines of the Mexican, Mexi- 
can Central, and Sonora Railways, and by stage to Guada- 
lajara and San Luis Potosi. Travellers without through 
tickets {e.g., those taking the trains of the Central Railway 
at San Isidro or Zacatecas) can make a considerable sav- 
ing by sending their extra luggage through to the City of 
Mexico by express — an arrangement that provides for free 
delivery at destination. Extra luggage also may be sent to 
advantage in this manner to El Paso, on the return journey, 
where it may be taken again in charge by its owner ; or di- 
rect to destination. The express company attends to pass- 
ing property through the custom-house and pays duties. 
In shipments from Mexico, or other points, the duty and 
charges may be j^aid at destination ; or may be paid at point 
of departure on the return from El Paso of the way bills 
with customs charges added. Persons shipping in this lat- 
ter manner must give a city reference, or deposit at the ex- 
press office, in addition to charges, the amount estimated to 
be due for duty. By a recent arrangement with the Federal 
Government the express company is permitted to carry let- 
ters — a fact to be remembered in sending important letters 
to interior towns. An express service also is maintained by 
the Mexican National Railway Company over its several 
lines. (See also Mexican Central Railway in regard to extra 
luggage.) 

At El Paso. Although the Pullman car is backed across 
to the station at El Paso, it is not opened until after the ex- 
amination of hand luggage by the Mexican customs officials 
at Paso del Norte. Travellers leaving El Paso from a hotel 
may secure a more comfortable evening meal than can be 
obtained in the railway eating-house at Paso del Norte by 
sending their luggage with the train, but themselves follow- 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 97 

iug later, cither by carriage or tramway. If tliis plan is 
adopted, sufficient time should be allowed to attend to cus- 
tom-house formalities. On the return northward there is 
ample time between the arrival of the Mexican Central train 
and the departure of the first train for the north to bathe and, 
if it is desired, to eat a solid breakfast at one of the hotels. 

Since the concentration of several railway lines here, El 
Paso has ceased to be a draggle-tailed little suburb of Paso 
del Norte, and has become an enterprising, thriving frontier 
town — with al] the crudeness and rawness and painful ugli- 
ness that an enterprising, thriving frontier town necessarily 
must have. Passengers arriving by the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe Railroad will have little knowledge of it, for 
their train will make a close connection with the south- 
bound train on the Mexican Central. Passengers arriving 
by either of the other lines will find the awkwardness of ar- 
riving in the middle of the night counterbalanced in part 
by the j)ossibility of a bath and change of linen that a wait- 
ing-time of from twelve to eighteen hours renders possible. 
The Grand Central Hotel will be found reasonably comfort- 
able, with tolerably clean bath-rooms, rather dingy tubs, 
abundant towels, and fairly satisfactory bedrooms. A room 
for any part of a day can be had for one dollar (provided a 
room at that price is asked for). The bath costs half a 
dollar. Any idle time may be employed in a drive through 
the aclohe town of Paso del Norte ; thence along the river- 
side, and, late in the afternoon (so as to get the sunset view 
from the mesa), to Fort Bliss. Good carriages may be hired 
at the door of the hotel. Rates : ^2.50 the first hour ; $1.50 
the second ; ^1 for each subsequent hour. The drive across 
the river will occupy about two hours ; the drive on the 
American side about one hour. Travellers who have a 
liking for queer characters will do well to employ for their 
coachman Mike Brannahan, an Argonaut of '49, whose inti- 
mate acquaintance with extraordinary persons and events in 
California and elsewhere is equalled only by his capacity for 
clothing his possibly extravagant reminiscences in eccentric 
language. As his carriage and horses are excellent, there is 
5 



98 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

no sacrifice of practical comfort involved in this enjoyment 
of his peculiar personal charms. 

Coming Home. For the return journey the same pro- 
vision that has been suggested for the outward journey may 
be made. Should increased packing-space be required, the 
traveller will do well not to bay a trunk, a costly article in 
Mexico, but a strong basket. In the City of Mexico baskets 
can be bought in the market of the Volador (in the northwest 
corner) of any desired size, one as big as a large travelling- 
trunk costing about two dollars. To make the basket dust- 
proof it should be lined first with newspapers and then with 
coarse cotton cloth. It should be well corded. If without 
this addition the total amount of luggage equals the allow- 
ance (150 pounds) for each through ticket, the basket may be 
advantageously sent home by express (see Express Service). 



PART II. 



THE MEXICAN CAPITAL 



PAET n. 
THE MEXICAN CAPITAL. 

/. PRACTICAL MATTERS. 

Station to Hotel. Street cars connect the several 
railway stations with the Plaza Mayor. The fare by 
these is a medio, excepting the special car that meets 
the train from Vera Cruz, by which the fare is a real. 
As the car lines do not pass near any of the desirable ho- 
tels, travellers unacquainted with the city should take a 
carriage. The fare should not exceed the regular rate for 
a single coach (see Hackney Coaches), but it usually 
does. Six reales for a white-flag coach, or a dollar for a 
red-flag coach, including carriage of hand luggage, will 
be a good bargain. A dollar, and a dollar and a quar- 
ter, respectively, will not be outrageous. But beyond 
these figures the traveller should refuse to go, unless 
the supply of carriages should chance to be unusually 
small. In case of a difference of opinion about the fare 
at the end of the course, it is the part of wisdom to 
turn the matter over for settlement to the people of the 
hotel 

Luggage. A luggage express agent usually boards 
incoming trains at a short distance out from the Buena 
Vista station (or will be found in the station on the ar- 



102 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

rival of the train), who gives, in return for the railway- 
company's checks, checks for city delivery. Although 
there is a regular tariff for this service (two reales for 
each piece) it is the part of prudence to arrive at a clear 
understanding, before the checks are exchanged, as to 
precisely what the cost of delivery will be. This func- 
tionary also will require the key of the piece to be de- 
livered, or, if a number of pieces are to be delivered, the 
key of any one piece of the lot, in order that the form of 
a custom-house examination may be gone through with. 
The key may be given confidently, as the express com- 
pany is responsible for the safe delivery of articles in- 
trusted to its care. It is as well, of course, to give the 
key of a piece that does not contain articles of any espe- 
cial value. Travellers arriving by way of the Vera Cruz 
Railway will not receive their luggage until the follow- 
ing morning. Hand luggage, therefore, should contain 
provision for the night. 

Hotels. In comparison with even second-class New 
York hotels the best hotels of the City of Mexico make 
a poor showing. They are meagrely furnished ; their 
service is poor ; their prices, relatively, are high. In the 
majority of them, the bath that the arriving traveller 
wants immediately cannot be obtained ; and even in 
those which possess bathing establishments, the baths 
are on the ground floor. To compass a pitcher of hot 
water in one's own room requires the outlay of a vast 
amount of vital energy, and a fee to the chamberman of 
a real. In engaging rooms it is desirable to secure such 
as face east or south, in order to secure an abundance 
of sunlight. Booms facing north or west are apt to be 
damp and cold. 

The Hotel del Jardin, opened during the past sum- 
naer, has yet to be proved. All that can be said of it is 



TRACTICAL MATTERS. 103 

that it promises to be tlie pleasantest, as it certainly is 
the most picturesque, hotel in the city. It is built 
around two sides of the old garden of San Francisco, 
and is itself a portion of the ancient convent. The 
rooms are sunny. The rate here will be fifty dollars a 
month, and upward, for rooms, and thirty dollars a 
month for board. The rate by the day for board and 
lodging probably will be $2.50 and upward. An omi- 
nous feature of this hotel is that it is designed especially 
for Americans, and promises American cooking. The 
Hotel San Carlos is especially desirable because of its 
many sunny rooms, and because of its location on the 
Calle de San Francisco, and consequent coign of vantage 
from which to see the frequent military parades upon 
this street — the sunny rooms, however, face upon the 
side street of the Coliseo. The little Hotel del Cafe 
Anglais has only a few rooms, but these are exception- 
ally clean, and the service here is exceptionally good. 
This is the most desirable hotel for ladies travelling 
alone. On the Calle del Cinco de Mayo there are three 
quiet little hotels which are not uncomfortable — the 
Comonfort, Gillow, and Cantabro. The largest hotel in 
the city is the Yturbide. If this hotel is selected, the 
traveller should ask for one of the new rooms, open- 
ing on the Calle de Gante ; for these, while they do not 
command a view of anything in particular, and have little 
sunlight, are large, airy, and clean. All of these hotels 
have restaurants connected with them, or near at hand. 
At all of them a considerable reduction will be made 
when rooms are taken for fifteen days or a month. A 
bargain as to rates always should be made in advance. 

Restaurants. Food and lodging are distinct parts 
of the Mexican hotel system, though by an especial 
agreement they can be combined. Having lodgings in 



104 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

one hotel does not interfere in any way with getting 
meals at the restaurant belonging to another. At all the 
restaurants a table d'hote is served twice daily — between 
12 M. and 3 p.m. for breakfast, and between 6 and 8 p.m. 
for dinner, these hours not being very rigidly observed. 
The first breakfast, coffee and bread, is served from 7 
A.M., and to get it at an earlier hour very emphatic or- 
ders must be given over night. In lieu of bread and 
coffee, however, a substantial breakfast can be obtained 
by special order. At the Cafe Anglais, in the Calle del 
Coliseo, where the head waiter speaks English, and where 
providing for American wants is made rather a specialty, 
the solid breakfast can be obtained without friction ; 
and regular boarders at this place can arrange to take 
their light meal, bread and coffee or bread and soup, in 
the middle of the day, and thus obtain their heavy break- 
fast without extra charge. The Cafe Anglais provides 
quite as good food as will be found at any of the tables 
d'hote, and its prices (1 real for first breakfast, 5 reales 
for second breakfast, 5 reales for dinner ; or $30, Mex- 
ican money, a month) are decidedly lower than those 
of any of the first-class restaurants. As compared with 
the handsome rooms of the restaurant of the Hotel 
Yturbide, or of the Restaurant Concordia, at either of 
which the charges for meals are from a dollar upward, 
the quarters of the Cafe Anglais are not brilliant. The 
Concordia, at the corner of the Second Plateros and 
San Jose el Eeal, is a very fair restaurant, where a rea- 
sonably good dinner, reasonably well served, can be or- 
dered either in the public room or in a private apart- 
ment. It is especially celebrated for its pastry and ices. 
Its prices, relatively, are high. The tivolis, or garden 
restaurants, in the suburb of San Cosme and at La Cas- 
taneda — on the tramway to San Angel — are peculiarly 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 105 

pleasant institutions of Mexico. Excellent breakfasts are 
served — at from two dollars a cover upv^ard — in rustic 
bowers or closed cabinets standing in charming gardens. 
For a breakfast with ladies the Tivoli of San Cosme prob- 
ably wdll be found most satisfactory, though ladies also 
may be taken to the Ehseo and La Castaneda. At all 
the restaurants the charges for wines and for imported 
malt liquors are extortionate. Both as a sanitary meas- 
ure and as a measure of economy travellers will do well 
to drink pulque, or native beer. 

To obtain genuine Mexican food, the traveller must go 
to one of the Mexican fondas. The best of these is the 
Fonda de la Eeforma, about midway of the Calle de 
Ortega, on the south side. Another that also can be 
recommended is the Fonda Mexicana, on the north side 
of the Calle del Cinco de Mayo, at the corner of the 
Callejon de Sta Clara. Neither of these establishments 
is sparkHngly clean, and at neither is the service of 
a very high order of excellence. Both are entirely re- 
spectable, and to both ladies may be taken. To obtain 
a really representative breakfast {i.e., the midday meal) 
the order should be given a day in advance, coupled 
with the explanation that the meal is to be composed of 
characteristic Mexican dishes — and something pleasant 
about the high reputation of that particular yb?2^« for 
the excellence of its cooking should be added in order 
to make the venture an entire success. The price should 
not exceed a dollar or a dollar and a half a cover, if the 
party consists of four or more. For only two persons, 
two dollars a cover would not be an unreasonable price, as 
some of the Mexican dishes are troublesome to prepare. 
Somewhat the same result may be obtained by taking the 
regular table d'hote breakfast at either of these /b?2c?as. 
This is served every day at noon, and costs four reales. 
5* 



106 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Specialties. Naylor's, No. 18 Calle de Escalerillas 
(upstairs), roast beef, cut from the joint in the presence 
of the diner, plum-pudding, and pies. — Italiano, Calle 
del Cinco de Mayo, corner Callejon de Sta Clara, mac- 
caroni and chocolate. — Cafe de Paris, No. 18, Calle de 
Coliseo Viejo, fish, fried chicken, ham and eggs. — Con- 
cordia, corner second Plateros and San Jose el Real, ices. 
Especially good pulque can be had at the pidqueria de 
las DatnaSj'No. 2, first Calle de las Damas, and at the 
l^ulqueria de los Perros, Cinco de Mayo, north side, a 
little east of the Hotel Comonfort. The earlier in the 
day that pidque is drunk the better it is. 

Lodgings. So far as saving money is concerned, 
there is little to be gained by hiring private lodgings, 
unless they are required for a term of several months. 
The charges for furnished rooms, in desirable parts of 
the town, are but little less than the monthly charges of 
the hotels ; and while unfurnished rooms can be had at 
comparatively low rates, the cost of furnishing them is 
exorbitant when judged by au American standard. Per- 
sons intending to pass a whole winter in Mexico, how- 
ever, can effect a considerable saving by hiring unfur- 
nished rooms and furnishing them, even at a heavy 
outlay ; for unfurnished rooms rent for less than half 
the cost of furnished rooms, and furniture usually can be 
disposed of at no great loss. Should rooms be hired, 
either furnished or unfurnished, much caution should be 
exercised. Many houses in Mexico that to a foreigner 
will seem absolutely respectable will prove to be by no 
means desirable j)laces of abode. 

Board ing-Houses. The equivalent of the American 
boarding-house is the casa de huespedes. There are 
many of these in the City of Mexico, man}'" of them very 
comfortable, and relatively moderate in their charges. 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 107 



^F 



or an ADierican, however, the cooking is likely to prove 
a decided drawback upon the otherwise obvious merits 
of these establishments. 

Baths. Of the many clean and well-ordered baths 
in the city, the most conveniently situated — for the use 
of residents of any of the central hotels — are the 
Banos del Factor in the Calle del Factor ; the Bafios de 
Vergara, in the Calle de Vergara, and the baths in the 
Yturbide Hotel. The street cars of the Circuito de 
Banos run direct to excellent baths (the Pane and Oso- 
rio) near the Paseo de la Eeforma. Passengers on these 
cai'S can buy bath tickets from the conductors, in which 
case the ride to the bath is free. The usual price for a 
cold bath is one real ; for a hot bath, two reales. The de- 
licious and beautiful bafio oriental of the Pane baths, the 
price for the use of which is one dollar, is one of the 
sights of the City of Mexico. Ladies may go with pro- 
priety to any of the baths here named. 

Interpreters, An interpreter and guide can be ob- 
tained at the Agenda Inglesa, No. 12 First Street of 
San Francisco. His pay should not exceed three dollars 
a day — but it probably will. 

Shopping. The larger shops in the City of Mexico, 
those on the Calle de los Plateros, are suppHed directly 
from France. Their stock of high-priced and, with some 
limitations, of medium-priced goods equals, in some re- 
spects surpasses, the stocks of the best Broadway shops 
in New York. The prices (allowing for the difference in 
value of the currencies) are about the same as in New 
York. In all these larger shops French also is spoken, 
and Enghsh, of a somewhat spasmodic variety, has be- 
gun to make its appearance. In these larger shops the 
deahng is fair, but abatements in prices sometimes will 
be made. There are several large shops of a lower 



108 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

grade on the south, side of the Plaza Mayor, and in the 
first and second Calles de la Monterilla, where the upper 
middle classes deal. In these, haggUng over prices is 
the rule rather than the exception. In the smaller 
shops — as those in which rebosos are sold, in and near 
the streets of the Flamencos, Bajos de Porta Coeli and 
Puente de Jesus — the battling over prices always is fierce 
and prolonged. Shops such as are found in New York in 
Sixth Avenue, abounding in honestly made goods which 
are both pretty and cheap, have no parallel in Mexico. 
The best shops in which to buy rebosos and zarapes are 
in the Calle de San Bernardo. 

Hat stores. For felt hats, west side of the Plaza 
Mayor. For straw hats, Calle de los Meleros, east of the 
market of the Volador (Spanish spoken). 

Common pottery and glazed tiles. A little shop, presided 
over by an affable old woman, on the west side of the 
Puente de Zacate, immediately in the rear of Las Bo- 
nitas. Upon the calzada, north of this shop, are several 
potteries (Spanish spoken). 

Watch-mending. German Laue, corner of Second San 
Francisco and Callejon del Espiritu Santo (English 
spoken). 

Leather worJc. Trunk-mending, trunk-straps, shawl- 
straps, Calle de Gante, No. 8 (French spoken). 

General mending. Trunks, locks, fans, etc., Eduardo 
Kaymond, Calle de los Kebeldes, No. 19 (English spoken). 

Shoemaker. Shoes for men and women. Calle del 
Espiritu Santo, No. 3 (French spoken). 

Cobbler. "La Pie de Sara," under Hotel del Cafe 
Anglais (Spanish spoken). 

Mending clothes (for men). "El Medico de la Kopa," 
Callejon de Sta Clara, just north of Cinco de Mayo 
(Spanish spoken). 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 109 

Milliner. Will "do up" bonnets, Calle de Gante, 
No. 8, over saddler's (French spoken). 

Drawn ivork. This beautiful Mexican work, as well as 
all sorts of embroidery, can be ordered from the Senora 
Baeza, a widowly body of great respectability at Arcos 
de San Agustin, No. 5, upstairs. Her prices are very 
reasonable (Spanish spoken). 

Silver Jewellery. Very good work, at fair prices, is 
done by Antonio Carrillo, Calle de Ortega, No. 5 (Span- 
ish spoken). 

Mexican didces. Very good candied fruits and other 
Mexican dulces can be bought at moderate rates at Arcos 
de San Agustin, No. 5, down-stairs. This little shop 
opens upon the inner paiio of the house, and has no 
other sign than the occasional wafting forth of a sweet 
smell (Spanish spoken). 

Good butter. Very good fresh butter can be bought 
at Calle de Sta Ysabel, No. 4. Butter not so good also 
is sold at No. 3, in the same street (Spanish spoken). 

Hardware. There are several large shops at and near 
the corner of the Calles del Refugio and Lerdo where 
hardware and house-furnishing articles may be bought. 
From an American standpoint, the prices are very high 
(English spoken). 

Libraries. The Biblioteca Nacional (which see) is a 
free library, open daily, feast-days excepted, from 10 a,m. 
till 5 P.M. The Biblioteca del Cinco de Mayo (which 
see) also is a free library, open daily, feast-days except- 
ed, from 9 A.M. till 12 m., and from 3 till 7 p.m. There is 
an excellent French circulating library (Second Sau 
Francisco, No. 2), where also are a few ancient English 
novels ; and, among others, two good Spanish circulat- 
ing hbraries, at respectively. No. 5 Calle del Espiritu 
Santo, and No. 5 Callejon del Espiritu Santo. 



110 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Book Stores. The book stores of Aguilar & Sons, 
First Calle de Santo Domingo, No. 5 ; Eduardo Mur- 
guia, Portal del Aguila de Oro, No. 2 ; Juan Buxo & 
Co., Portal del Aguila de Oro, No. 5 ; Carlos Bouret, 
Cinco de Mayo, No. 15, all contain good collections of 
Mexican and Si^anish works. At the last-named a fair 
stock of French books will be found. Second-hand 
books are for sale in the Portales, and in the book-mar- 
ket, erected in 1886, in the Plazuela del Seminario. 
Among these, occasionally, a prize may be secured. 
Rare, standard books on Mexico usually can be found 
at the shop of Francisco Abadiano, Calle de las Escal- 
erillas, No. 17, but are held at very high, prices. Very 
handsome colored maps, costing 11.50 each, of the City 
and Valley of Mexico — the last a bird's-eye view — may 
be bought at the shop of Debray Sucesores, corner of 
the Calle Coliseo Viejo and Calle j on del Espiritu Santo. 
Here also may be bought a beautiful, but not very ac- 
curate, atlas of Mexico, the several maps of which are 
bordered by well-executed pictures in chromo-litho- 
graph, illustrating Mexican scenery and races. 

Newspapers. The only daily paper pubHshed in 
English in the city is the Two Republics. This will be 
found serviceable in its presentment of current railway 
time-tables and official directory, as well as in its hints 
of Mexican and general news. It contains a list of 
places of interest in and near Mexico that could be made 
exceedingly valuable to tourists, but that, being full of 
inaccuracies, is less helpful than dangerously misleading. 
The Mexican Financier, a weekly publication in Spanish 
and English, deals broadly with national and interna- 
tional subjects, mainly from the standpoint of com- 
merce, and gives a clear presentment of the general 
drift of Mexican affairs. Its especial mission is the fos- 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. Ill 

teiTDg of international commerce and the development 
of the resources of the Republic. As its circulation is 
among Mexican merchants and manufacturers it has 
done much toward introducing American machinery and 
methods into Mexico, and toward securing to the United 
States a very profitable Mexican trade. El Diario Oflcial, 
the official daily organ of the Federal Government, pub- 
lishes a monthly summary of events in English that will 
be found of much interest. Le Trait d' Union is a daily 
published in French. A number of daily, weekly, and 
monthly journals are published in Spanish. Indeed, in 
proportion to its population, the City of Mexico has al- 
most as many newspapers as New York. 

Post Office. (See also p. 94) There is a regular de- 
livery by carriers in the City of Mexico, and letters ad- 
dressed to any hotel will be delivered promptly. But as 
carelessness in regard to letters is the rule at Mexican 
hotels, this is a very unsafe plan for travellers to adopt. 
A safe plan is to have letters addressed in the care of 
the Agenda Inglesa de C. M. St. Hill, Calle de San Fran- 
cisco la, No. 12. At the Agenda Inglesia official letter 
lists are received daily from the General Post-office, 
stamps are for sale, and letters may be mailed in a 
locked letter-box that is cleared several times daily 
by the regular postmen. Letters directed simply to 
the City of Mexico must be called for at the General 
Post-office, in the northern portion of the Palacio Na- 
cional, fronting on the Calle del Arzobispado. There 
are several sub-post-offices in the city where stamps 
may be purchased and letters mailed. It is not advis- 
able to mail letters in the letter-boxes found in remote 
parts of the town. The letter-boxes on the principal 
streets probably are cleared regularly. Letters for the 
United States should be mailed before 5 p.m. 



112 MEXTCAlSr GUIDE, 

Telegraph Ofifices. Cable to tlie United States and 
Europe via Vera Cruz and Galveston, corner Second 
San Francisco and Santa Clara. Overland to the United 
States, and thence to Europe, office of the Mexican Cen- 
tral Railway, First San Francisco (Plazuela de Guar- 
diola). For points on the southern division of the 
Mexican National Railway, Calle de Cadena, No. 12, en- 
trance on the Jardin del Colegio de Ninas. For points 
on Interoceanic (Morelos, Irolo) Railway, Calle de San 
Agustin, No. 14. Government Telegraph Office, lines 
to all important points in the Republic, Callejon del 
Espiritu Santo, No. 5. 

Railway Stations. Mexican Central, Buena Vista ; 
Vera Cruz Railway, Buena Vista ; Mexican National, 
Colonia ; Interoceanic, San Lazaro and Peralvillo. 

Railway Offlces. Mexican Central, Buena Vista 
(ticket office in First San Francisco : Plazuela de Guar- 
diola) ; Vera Cruz, Buena Vista ; Mexican National, 
Calle de Cadena, No. 12 ; interoceanic, Calle de San 
Agustin, No. 14. 

Diligence Office. First Calle de la Independencia, 
No. 14, in rear of Yturbide Hotel. General and partic- 
ular information may be procured at this office, and 
seats may be secured. Diligencias, seating nine peo- 
ple and upward, may be hired for the day, for pic- 
nics or driving parties, at a cost of twenty dollars and 
upward. (See Excursions, p. 117.) 

Express Offices. Wells, Fargo & Co. (see p. 96), 
and Central (local), both in Calle de Santa Ysabel ; 
Mexican National, No. 12 Calle de Cadena. 

Hackney Coaches. There are four classes of hack- 
ney coaches, commanding four rates of fare : "White flag, 
50 cents the hour ; red flag, 75 cents the hour ; blue 
flag, $1 the hour ; green flag, $1.50 the hour. These 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 113 

prices bold good between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., before and 
after wbicb bours tbe prices are tbe same as on feast 
days. Tbe least time tbat a coacb can be bired for is 
balf an bour ; and in tbis must be included tbe time 
required for tbe coacb to return to tbe stand wbence 
it is taken. Tbus a course of twenty minutes will in- 
clude twentj'' minutes for tbe return and must be paid 
for as a wbole bour. On feast daj'S and Sundays tbe 
prices are increased : Wbite flag, 75 cents ; red flag, $1 ; 
blue flag, $1.50 ; green flag, $2, tbe bour. Coacbmen 
expect a small gratuity, a medio or a real, according to 
tbeir class and tbe lengtb of time tbat tbey bave been 
employed. Tbe wbite flag coacbes usually are dirt}^ and 
are to be sbunned. Tbe red flag coacbes are quite as good 
as tbe average of backney coacbes in New York. Tbe 
green and blue flag coacbes — between wbicb tbere is no 
appreciable difference — are as good as backney coacbes 
can be. Eacb coacbman is compelled to carry, and to 
sbow upon demand, bis tariff of cbarges. If any difficulty 
arises in regard to fares it usually can be settled by an 
appeal to a policeman ; and policemen, by a miracle tbat 
only tbe municipal governments of Mexico can work, 
usually are available wben an appeal is to be made to 
tbem. Sbould tbe policeman prove unequal to tbe sit- 
uation, an equitable adjustment always can be secured 
by driving to tbe Administracion, on tbe soutb side of 
tbe Plaza Mayor. 

Saddle-horses. Tbere are several good livery-sta- 
bles in tbe City of Mexico from wbicb saddle-borses can 
be obtained. Tbe usual rate is about $3 for a morning's 
ride. 

Street Railways. By a judicious use of tbe street 
railways almost every part of tbe city can be reacbed 
far more easily — tbe nature of tbe paving, save on 



114 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the principal streets, being considered — than in a car- 
riage. On all city lines (though not on all suburban 
lines within the city) the fare is 6|- cents, excepting the 
cars run after 8 p.m. from the several railway stations, on 
which the fare 'is 12|- cents. On the circuito lines (except- 
ing the Circuito de Bafios) passengers receive transfer 
tickets, good from transfer stations, on the day of issue, 
on connecting circuits. The transfer stations are marked 
upon the accompanying map by red flags. 

San Gosme y Santa Maria. Start from southwest corner 
of Plaza Mayor and from Sta Maria at 6.30 a.m. and run 
every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. until 7.30 p.m. On feast- 
days after 7.30 p.m. (at half -hour intervals) till 9.30 p.m. 
from Sta Maria and 10 p.m. from the Plaza. 

San Gosme y Tlaxpana. Start from southwest corner 
of the Plaza Mayor and from the Tlaxpana at 6.37 a.m. 
and run every 15 minutes from 7.07 a.m. until 7.37 p.m. 
On feast-days after 7.37 p.m. (at half hour intervals) until 
9.15 from the Tlaxpana and 9.45 from the Plaza. 

Colonia de Arquitectos. Start from the southwest cor- 
ner of the Plaza Mayor at 7 a.m. and run every half hour 
until 9 P.M. From the Colonia at 6.30 a.m. and run 
every half hour until 8.30 p.m. A car leaves each termi- 
nus a half hour later on feast-days. 

Los Angeles (broad gauge). Cars leave the northwest 
corner of the Plaza Mayor every 20 minutes between 
6.40 A.M. and 12.20 p.m. and 1.40 and 7 p.m. Leave 
Plaza de los Angeles every 20 minutes between 7 a.m. 
and 12.40 p.m., and 2 and 7 p.m. 

Los Angeles y Guerrero (narrow gauge circuito). 
Leave transfer station in front of Chamber of Deputies 
at 7 A.M. and every 35 minutes thereafter until 7.55 p.m. 
Leave Plaza de los Angeles at 7.17 a.m. and every 35 
minutes thereafter until 8 p.m. 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 115 

Buena Vista (broad gauge). Cars leave the south- 
west corner of the Plaza Mayor every 20 minutes from 
6,40 A.M. till 1 P.M. and from 2.20 till 6.20 p.m. Leave 
Buena Vista every 20 minutes from 7 a.m. till 1.20 p.m. 
and from 2.40 till 6 p.m. Extra trips (fare, one real), are 
made in the early morning, and in the evening, connect- 
ing with departing and arriving trains. 

Buena Vista (narrow gauge, circuito). Leave transfer 
station in front of Chamber of Deputies at 7 a.m. and run 
every 14 minutes from this j)oint and Buena Vista until 
8.04 p.m. 

La Viga. Cars leave the southeast corner of the Plaza 
Mayor at 7 a.m. and run thereafter every half hour until 
8 P.M. Leave the Viga at 6.45 a.m. and every half hour 
thereafter until 7.45 p.m. 

San Ldzaro. Cars leave the southeast corner of the 
Plaza Mayor at 6.30 a.m. and run every half hour there- 
after until 7.30 P.M. Leave San Lazaro at 6.45 a.m. and 
every half hour thereafter until 7.45 p.m. Extra cars 
(fare, one real) meet trains arriving at the San Lazaro 
station after 8 p.m. 

San Juan y Nino Perdido. Leave southwest corner 
of the Plaza Mayor at 7 a.m. and every half hour there- 
after until 8 P.M. Leave the Nino Perdido at 7.15 a.m. 
and every half hour thereafter until 8. 15 p.m. 

Belem, por San Juan. Leave the southwest corner of 
the Plaza Mayor at 7.15 a.m. and every half hour there- 
after until 7.45 p.m. Leave Belem at 7.30 a.m. and every 
half hour thereafter until 8 p.m. 

Belem, por la calle Ancha. Leave the southwest corner 
of the Plaza Mayor at 7.15 a.m. and every half hour 
thereafter until 7.30 p.m. Leave Belem at 7.30 a.m. and 
every half hour thereafter until 8 p.m. 

Peralvillo y San Lilcas. On this circuit cars leave the 



116 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

northwest corner of the Plaza Mayor at 6.32 a.m. and 
every eight minutes thereafter until 8 p.m. Supplemen- 
tary cars leave at 8.15 and 8.30. On the run south, cars 
leave the southeast corner of the Plaza. 

Guerrero. On this circuit cars leave the northwest 
corner of the Plaza Mayor at 6.50 a.m., and every twenty 
minutes thereafter until 8.30 p.m. 

Santisima y Mariscala. On this circuit cars leave the 
corner of the Calles Santo Domingo and Escalerillas and 
run every 15 minutes from 7.15 a.m. until 8 p.m. 

Santiago (narrow gauge, circuito). Leave transfer sta- 
tion, in front of Chamber of Deputies, at 7.14 a.m. and 
every 28 minutes thereafter until 7.50 p.m. 

Circuitos: Norte, Oriente, Sur, Central (narrow gauge). 
Beginning between 7 and 7.07 a.m., cars are run on these 
circuits eveiy seven minutes until 8 p.m. 

Circuito de la Reforma. On feast-days special cars are 
run on the track that parallels the Paseo de la Reforma. 
They usually are frightfully' crowded and are to be 
shunned Fare, 6|- cents. 

Circuito de Bancs. At intervals of 7 minutes from the 
Pane and Osorio baths, near the Paseo de la Reforma, 
to a point just south of the market of the Merced. Cars 
of this line meet trains at the Colonia (Mexican Na- 
tional) railway station. 

Suburban Tramways. These lines are admirably 
managed ; the service is punctual, the running time ex- 
cellent, and the first-class cars — save for occasional dust 
— are clean. The only objection that can be urged 
against them is the method of running trains at long in- 
tervals, instead of single cars at short intervals. Usually 
two first-class and two second-class cars are run to- 
gether at intervals of from half an hour (to Guadalupe) to 
an hour and a half (to Tlalpam). The train system origi- 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 117 

nally was adopted for greater security, attacks by robbers 
beiug feared. As the valley in the neighborhood of the 
city — excepting, perhaps, in the vicinity of Tacuba — is 
now well policed and absolutely safe, the system very 
advantageously might be abandoned. A Mexican, how- 
ever, does not easily change his habits ; and the tradi- 
tional fear of robbery as a prominent feature of a jour- 
ney still is strong within him. In point of fact, soldiers 
armed with carbines occupy the front platforms of these 
suburban tram-cars, although the only practical pur- 
pose, presumably, of this ornamental military attach- 
ment is to afford a ready outlet for such conversational 
overplus on the part of the driver as may remain after 
his occasionally picturesque, frequently fervid, and nor- 
mally forcible addresses to his frisky mules. The mules 
are capital little fellows. They are changed at short in- 
tervals and, outside of the city, usually are driven at a 
gallop. Tickets are sold by the conductor and are col- 
lected by a ticket-taker who comes on board about mid- 
way of the run. The value of the ticket is printed on 
its face. On the longer runs the passenger receives 
several tickets, the collective value of which is the price 
of passage. On all the suburban lines monthly commu- 
tation tickets are sold. On Sundays and feast-days the 
car service usually is increased. 

Excursions. Cars may be hired for excursions over 
tbe suburban lines — a very satisfactory arrangement, 
since in the suburbs of Mexico (excepting the Paseo to 
Chapultepec) the condition of the roads is such that 
driving is almost impossible. A very desirable excur- 
sion to make is from Mexico, through Chapultepec, 
Tacubaya, and Mixcoac, to San Angel ; thence through 
Coyoacan to San Mateo ; thence (possibly) to Tlalpam, 
or directly back to Mexico by the Tlalpam line. An ex- 



118 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

cursion only second to this in pleasing possibilities is 
through Tacuba and Atzcapatzalco to Tlalnepantla and 
return. Whether made in a special car, or in a regular 
car, neither of these excursions should be omitted. The 
tariff below for special cars, carrying twenty-five, or less, 
passengers, provides for the detention of the car for two 
hours longer than the schedule time required to make 
the round trip. Arrangements also may be made for 
the use of a car for the entire day, or for a private car 
out in the morning and back in the afternoon or evening. 
The rates for single and round trips from Mexico are : 

Single trip. Round trip. 

Tacubaya, Tacuba, or Guadalupe $3 00 $4 50 

Mixcoac, Atzcapotzalco, or Dolores. .. . 4 00 6 00 

San Angel 5 00 7 50 

Coyoacan 6 00 9 00 

Tlalpam or Tlalnepantla 7 00 10 50 

These rates are liable to be increased on feast-days. 
Application for special cars should be made to Sr. D. I. 
P. de Castillo, Administrador General de la Compaiiia 
Limitada de Ferrocariles del Distrito Federal. (For 
suburban excursions see also Diligencias, p. 112.) 

Suburban Time-tables. The official time tables of 
the suburban lines give only the time of departure from 
terminal points. The following schedules of running 
time between terminal points are the result of averages 
of several runs and, while they are approximately cor- 
rect, are liable to variations of several minutes. 

Guadalupea First class fare, 12^ cents. Cars leave 
the northwest corner of the Plaza Mayor at 5.30 a.m., 
and every half hour thereafter until 12 m. ; at 2 p.m., and 
every haK hour thereafter until 8 p.m. ; at 9 p.m. Leave 
Guadalupe at 6.15 a.m. and every half hour thereafter un- 
til 12.15 p.m. ; at 2.15 p.m. and every half hour there- 
after until 7.45 p.m. ; at 8.45 p.m. 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 119 

Running time : Plaza Mayor to Guadalupe, or vice 
versa, 25 minutes. 

Tacubaya, via Ghapultepec. First-class fare to either 
point, 12^ cents. Cars leave the southwest corner of the 
Plaza MaVor at 5.20, 5.40, 6, 6.20, 6.40, 7, 7.20, 7.40, 8, 
8.20, 8.40, 9, 9.20, 9.40. 10, 10.20, 10.40, 11, 11.20, 11.40, 
12 A.M., and 12.20, 12.40, 2, 3, 3.20, 3.40, 4, 4.20, 4.40, 5, 
5.20, 5.40, 6. 6.30, 7, 7.30, 9 p.m. Leave the plaza in 
Tacubaya at 6.10, 6.30, 6.50, 7.10, 7.30, 7.50, 8.10, 8.30, 
8.50, 9.10, 9.30, 9.50, 10.10, 10.30, 10.50, 11.10, 11.30, 
11.50 A.M., and 12.10, 12.30, 12.50, 1.10, 2.10, 2.30, 2.50, 
3.10, 3.30, 3.50, 4.10, 4.30, 4.50, 5.10, 5.30, 5.50, 6.10, 
6.30, 7, 7.30, 8, 9 p.m. Between October 1st and April 1st 
the 5.20 and 5.40 a.m. trips are omitted. (For additional 
trains to Tacubaya, see San Angel time-table.) 

Running time : Plaza Mayor to Ghapultepec, 30 min- 
utes ; to Tacubaya, 40 minutes. 

Dolores, via Ghapultepec. First class fare, 18 cents. 
This tramway is a branch (at Ghapultepec) from the 
Tacubaya hne. Excepting on the 7 a.m. trip, w^hen a 
through car is run, passengers will take Tacubaya cars 
in Mexico and change cars at the Ghapultepec station. 
Cars (marked "Tacubaya") making direct connection 
with the Dolores branch leave the southwest corner of 
the Plaza Mayor at 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 a.m., and 3.20, 4.20, 
5.20 p.m. Leave Dolores at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 a.m., and 
4.20, 5.20, 6.20 p.m. 

Punning time : Plaza Mayor to Ghapultepec, 30 min- 
utes; to Dolores, 55 minutes, 

Mixcoac and the Casteneda. Through fare from 
Mexico, first class, 18 cents. In addition to the trains 
to San Angel stopping at Mixcoac (see San Angel time- 
table) a special service is arranged between Tacubaya 
and Mixcoac and the Casteneda in connection with the 



120 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Taoubaya trains. Cars leave Tacubaya, from the inter- 
section with the San Angel line, at 6, 7.20, 8.40, 10, 11.20 
A.M., and 12.40, 2, 3.20, 4.40, 6 p.m. Leave the Casteneda 
at 6.55, 8.15, 9.35, 10.55 a.m., and 12.15, 1.35, 2.55, 
4.15, 5.35, 6.55 p.m. 

Running time : Tacubaya to the Casteneda, 20 min- 
utes ; the Casteneda to Tacubaya, 19 minutes. Through 
time, Mexico to Mixcoac, one hour. 

La Piedad. Fare, first class, 6|- cents ; on feast days 
12^ cents. (N.B. — It usually is a feast-day). Cars leave 
the southwest corner of the Plaza Mayor at 6.40, 7.20, 
8, 8.40, 9.20, 10, 10.40, 11.20, 12 a.m., and 1.20, 2, 2.40, 
3.20, 4, 4.40, 5.20 p.m. Leave the Piedad at 7.20, 8, 
8.40, 9.20, 10, 10.40, 11.20, 12 a.m., and 12.40, 2, 2.40, 
3.20, 4, 4.40, 5.20, 5.40, 6 20 p.m. 

Running time : Plaza Mayor to Garita de Belem, 15 
minutes ; to the Bomita and Petit Versailles, 17 minutes ; 
to the French Race-track, 20 minutes ; to the French 
Cemetery 25 minutes ; to the Piedad 30 minutes. 

San Angel, via GhapuUepec, Tacubaya, and Mixcoac 
(La Casteneda). First class fare to Chapultepec, or 
Tacubaya 12-^ cents ; to Mixcoac (La Casteneda), 18 
cents ; to San Angel, 25 cents. Cars leave the southwest 
comer of the Plaza Mayor at 6, 7.20, 8.40, 10, 11.20 a.m., 
and 12.40, 2, 3.20, 4 40, 6 p.m. Leave San Angel at 6, 
7.20, 8.40, 10, 1L20, 12.40, 2, 3.20, 4.40, 6 p.m. (For 
additional cars to San Angel see Tlalpam time-table.) 

Running time : Plaza Mayor to Garita de Belem, 15 
minutes ; to Chapultepec, 30 minutes ; to Tacubaya, 
40 minutes ; to Mixcoac (La Casteneda), 60 minutes ; to 
San Angel, 75 minutes. 

J^ote. These cars are run without reference to the 
running time of the line from San Angel through 
Coyoacan to San Mateo and thence to Mexico. 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 



121 



TIalpam, Churubusco, Goijoacan, and San Angel. First 
class fare to Garita de San Autoiiio Abad, 9 cents ; to the 
Ladrillera, 12^ cents ; to San Mateo (Churubusco), 18 
cents ; to San Antonio, 25 cents ; to Tlalpam, 31 cents. 
From San Mateo (by branch line) to Coyoacan, San Anto- 
nio, Chimalistac, or San Angel, 7 cents. 





A.M. 


A.M. 


A.M. 


A.M. 


P.M. 


P.M. 


P.M. 


P.M. 


P.M. 


Plaza Mayor. . . Lv 
Garita 


6.00 
6.20 
6.33 
6.45 


7.30 
7.50 
8.03 
8.15 


9.00 
9.20 
9.33 
9.45 


10.30 
10.50 
11.03 
11.15 


12.00 
12.20 
12.33 
12.45 


2.00 
2.20 
2.33 
2.45 


3.30 
3.50 
4.03 
4.15 


5.00 
5.20 
5.33 
5.45 


6.30 
6.50 


La Ladrillera 

San Mateo Jc 


7.03 
7.15 


Churubusco 

Coyoacan 

Chimalistac 

San Angel 


6.49 
6.57 
7.08 
7.15 


8.19 

8.27 
8.88 
8.45 


9.49 

9.. 57 

10 08 

10.15 


11.19 

11.27 
11.38 
11.45 


12.49 

12.57 

1.08 

1.15 


2.49 
2.57 
3.08 
3.15 


4.19 

4.27 
4.38 
4.45 


5.49 
5.57 
6.08 
6.15 


7.19 
7.27 
7.38 
7,45 


San Antonio 

Tlalpam Arr 


6.55 

7.20 


8.25 
8.50 


9.55 

10.20 


11.25 
11.50 


12.55 
1.20 


2.55 
3.20 


4.25 
4.50 


5.55 
6.20 


7.25 
7.50 



Tlalpam Lv 

San Antonio 

San Angel 

Chimalistac 

Coyoacan 

Churubusco 

San Mateo Jc 

La Ladrillera 

Garita 

Plaza Mayor. .Arr 



6.00 
6.14 



7.30 
7.44 



9.00 
9.14 



6.00 
6.06 
6.15 
6.25 



7.30 
7.36 
7 45 
7.55 



9.00 
9.06 
9.15 
9.25 



10.30 
10.44 



10.30 
10.36 
10.45 
10.55 



12.00 
12.14 



12.00 
12.06 
12.15 
12.25 



2.00 
2.14 



2.00 
2.U6 
2.15 
2.25 



3.30 
3.44 



3.30 
3.36 
3.45 
3.55 



5.00 
5.14 



5.00 
5.06 
5.15 
5.25 



6.30 


8.00 


9.30 


11.00 


12.30 


2.30 


4.00 


5.30 


6.38 


8.08 


9.38 


11.08 


12.38 


2.88 


4.08 


.5.38 


7.00 


8.30 


10.00 


11.30 


1.00 


3.00 


4.30 


6.00 


7.15 


S.45 


10.15 


11.45 


L15 


3.15 


4.45 


6.15 



6.80 
6.44 



6.30 
6.36 
6.45 
6.55 



7.00 
7 08 
7.30 
7.45 



Note. The cars to San Angel by this line are run 
without reference to makinof connections Avith the direct 
line between San x\ngel and the City of Mexico. The 
connection with the 3.20 p.m. car from San Angel to 
Mexico cannot be depended upon. For additional cars 
to San Angel, see preceding time-table. 
6 



122 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

TIalnepantIa, via Popotla (tree of the Noche Triste), 
Tacuba, and Atzcapotzalco. First class fare to Popotla or 
Tacuba, 12 1 cents ; to Atzcapotzalco, 18 cents ; to Puente 
de Vigas, 25 cents ; to Tlalnepantla, 31 cents. Cars leave 
the southwest corner of the Plaza Mayor at 5.30, 7.30, 
9.30, 11.30 A.M., and 1.30, 3.30, 5.30 p.m. Leave plaza in 
Tlalnepantla at 5.40, 7.40, 9.40, 11.40 a.m., and 1.40, 3.40, 
5.40 P.M. 

Running time : Plaza Mayor to Garita de San Cosme, 
25 minutes ; to Agricultural College, 30 minutes ; to Po- 
potla (tree of the Noche Triste), 36 minutes ; to Tacuba, 
42 minutes ; to Atzcapotzalco, 57 minutes ; to Puente de 
Vigas, 77 minutes ; to plaza in Tlalnepantla, 97 minutes. 
Beturning : Tlalnepantla to Puente de Vigas, 20 mioutes ; 
to Atzcapotzalco, 40 minutes ; to Tacuba, 50 minutes ; to 
Popotla, 60 minutes : to Agricultural College, 67 min- 
utes ; to Garita de San Cosme, 72 minutes ; to Plaza 
Mayor, 97 minutes. 

Atzcapotzalco, via Popotla (tree of the Noche Triste) 
and Tacuba. First class fare to Popotla or Tacuba, 12|- 
cents ; to Atzcapotzalco, 18 cents. Cars leave the southwest 
corner of the Plaza Mayor at 5.30, 6, 7, 7.30, 8, 9, 9.30, 
10, 11, 11.30, 12 A.M., and 1, 1.30, 3, 3.30, 4, 5, 5.30, 6, 
7j and 8 p.m. 

Note. The cars for Atzcapotzalco running on the half 
hours are marked "Tlalnepantla." 

Running time : Plaza Mayor to Garita de San Cosme, 
25 minutes ; to Agricultural College, 30 minutes ; to 
Popotla (tree of the Noche Triste), 36 minutes ; to Ta- 
cuba, 42 minutes ; to Atzcapotzalco, 57 minutes. Return- 
ing : Atzcapotzalco to Tacuba, 10 minutes ; to Popotla, 
20 minutes ; to Agricultural College, 27 minutes ; to 
Garita de San Cosme, 32 minutes ; to Plaza Mayor, 57 
minutes. 



PRACTICAL MATTERS. 123 

Mexican Government Officials. The offices of the 
several officers of the Mexican Government named be- 
low are in the Palacio Nacional, on the east side of the 
Plaza Mayor. 

President of the Republic : General Porfirio Diaz. 
Audiences from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily (Wednesdays ex- 
cepted). Persons intending to call on the President 
should leave their cards v^ith the Adjutant at the Palace. 

Secretary of the Interior : Manuel Romero Rubio. 
Office hours from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Secretary of the Treasury : Manuel Dublan. Office 
hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

Secretary for Fo7'eign Affairs : Ignacio M. Mariscal. 
Office hours from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m., and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

Minister of Justice and Public Instruction : Joaquin 
Baranda. Office hours from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Secretary of War and Marine : • General Pedro Hino- 
josa. Office hours from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Secretary of Public Works, Colonization, Industry, and 
Commerce {Ministerio de Fomento) : General Carlos Pa- 
checo. Office hours 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Governor of the National Palace : General Agustin 
Pradillo, to whom requests for permits to visit national 
institutions should be addressed. (See p. 92.) 

Foreign Legations. Nearly all of the great, and 
several of the minor, powers maintain diplomatic repre- 
sentatives in the City of Mexico. 

The United States: Minister Plenipotentiary and En- 
voy Extraordinary, Hon Thomas Courtlandt Manning. 

Consul-General, James W. Porch, north side Plazuela 
del Seminario. 

Gr^eat Britain: Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy 
Extraordinary, Sir Spencer St. John. Office of the Lega- 
tion, Calle de San Diego, No. 4. 



124 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Consul-General, Lionel Garden, San Diego, No. 4 

Germany : Minister Kesiclent, Baron von Waecker 
Gotter, Jarclin cle Buena Vista, No. 2. 

Consul, Pablo Kosidowsky, Capuchinas, No. 7. 

France : Secretary, Count Rene Gaston de la Marliere, 
Avenida Juarez and Calle de Ex-Acordada. 

Spain : Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraor- 
dinary, Don Guillroem Crespo, Jardin de Buena Vista. 

Italy : Minister Resident, Com. G. B. Viviani, Portillo 
de San Diego, No. 2. 

Belgium : Minister Resident, Baron Frederic Dael- 
man, Rivera de Sta Maria, Fourth Calle de Naranjo, 
No. 4. 

Protestant Churches. Including the several mis- 
sion churches (in which services are held in Spanish) 
there are ten Protestant churches in the City of Mexico. 
Services in English are held as follows : 

JEjnscopal. Christ Church, Calle de Gante, No. 3. 
Every Sunday at 11 a.m. 

Methodist Episcopal. Trinity Church, Calle de Gante, 
No. 5. Rev. John W. Butler, Pastor. Preaching every 
Sunday at 10.15 a.m. Prayer meeting every Friday at 
7.30 P.M. Sunday-school, 9.15 a.m. 

Union Protestant Congregation. Calle de San Juan de 
Letran, No. 12. Service every Sunday at 10.30 a.m. 
Prayer meeting every Friday at 7.30 p.m. Sunday- 
school and Bible class every Sunday from 9.15 to 10.15 

A.M. 

Church of Jesus in Meocico. (See Church of San Fran- 
cisco.) Services, usually in Spanish, every Sunday. 



THE STREETS OF MEXICO. 125 



IL STREETS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

Street Nomenclature. Strangers are not a little 
confused by the custom that obtains of giving, in most 
cases, a separate name to each block, and of speaking of 
each block as a separate street (or, when a street has the 
same name for several consecutive blocks, of distinguish- 
ing these blocks as first, second, third, and so on) ; and 
of numbering the houses in each block separately. As 
this illogical arrangement makes a specific address by 
street and number of very little use to a stranger, the 
following list of streets — arranged alphabetically, with 
reference by letter to the section of the accompanying 
map in which each street will be found^is a necessary- 
portion of the present work. The abbreviation pte. , pre- 
fixed to the names of many of the streets, signifies puenie 
(bridge), and refers to the fact that at one time there 
was within the block so named a bridge crossing a canal. 
The other abbreviations used in the following list are : 
cte. for cuadrante ; cer. for ceiTado ; en. for callejon ; 
plaz. for plaza or plazuela ; calz. for calzada ; rinc. for 
rinconada ; av. for avenida ; esp. for espalda ; est. for 
estampa. The many sacred names given to streets are de- 
rived, as a rule, from the names of churches or convents 
which stood, or are still standing, upon the streets to which 
their titles by a perfectly natural process have been con- 
veyed. The honest objection on the part of many Prot- 
estants to these names must be lessened by supplying 
the implied qualification that every Mexican very well 
understands. The street of the Holy Ghost is the street 
of the Church of the Holy Ghost — and the abbreviation 



126 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



is used in mucli the same way that the name Trinity 
Buildings is used in New York. 



Aduana pte V 

Aguila J, K 

Agustin , V 

Alameda I 

Alamedita P 

Alamo A 

Alconedo R 

Alegria O 

Alfaro T,V 

Alhdndiga O 

Altuna J 

Alvarado pte G 

Amargura J, L 

Amor de Dios O 

Ancha E 

Andalicio O 

Angel T, V 

Antonio en E 

Apartado , L 

Aranda en T 

Arbol en V 

Arbol plaz. V 

Arcos de Belen R, S 

Arco de San Agustin .... V 

Armando en N 

Arquitectos F 

Arsinas L 

Arteaga C 

Artes Q, E 

Ave Maria O 

Ave Maria en. ... , V 

Ave Maria plaz O 

Aynntamiento E 

Aztecas E 

Arzobispado M 

Bajos de Porta Cceli.M, V 

Bajos de S. Agustin V 

Balvanera V 

Balvanera, est. de M, V 

Balvanera, rejas de M 



Balderas I 

Basilisco en J 

Beata N 

Belen, Arcos de E, S 

Belen plaz S 

Berdeja J 

Berdeja en J 

Betlemitas en K 

Bilboa en. M 

Blanco pte E 

Blanquillo pte X 

Bosque E 

Bucareli, Paseo de R 

Buena Muerte V 

Buena Vista plaz G 

Cabezas en W 

Cacahuatal X 

Cacahuatal calz Y 

Cadena O 

Cadena K 

Caler T 

Gallejnela en M 

Calvario I 

Calzada de Cacahuatal . . Y 
Calzada de Campo Flori- 

do U 

Calzada de Chapultepec . S 
Calzada de la Escuela de 

Artes A 

Calzada de Guadalupe . E 
Calzada de la Hacienda de 

la Teja Q 

Calzada de Invatidos .... F 
Calzada de la Peniten- 

ciaria E 

Calzada de la Piedad. ... S 
Calzada del Rancho de 

Casa Blanco Q 

Calzada de S. Antonio 

Abad W 



STREETS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



127 



Calzada de Sta. Maria. . . J 

Calzada de Sau Rafael . . F 

Calzada de Sau Cosme . . F 

Camarones en T 

Camelia A, 

Camilito J 

Cami3o Florido calz U 

Candelai'ia i3laz R 

Candelaria plaz P 

Candelarita en R 

Caneria de S. Cosme .... F 

Canoa K 

Cantaritos N 

Capuchinas . ,• M 

Carbajal E 

Carmen pte L 

Carretones en X 

Carretones pte . , W 

Carrizo en J, D 

Casa Blanca F 

Cazuela en M 

Cedaeeros en. (2) U 

Cipres F 

Cerbatana L 

Cerca de S. Domingo. . . L 

Cerca de S. Lorenzo .... J 

Cerrada C 

Cerrada de Jesus V 

Cerrada de Necatitlan ... W 
Cerrada del Parque de la 

Moneda M, O 

Cerrada S. Miguel V 

Cerrada Sta. Teresa M 

Chapultepec ealz S 

Chaneque X 

Chapitel de Monserrate. . V 

Chavarria O 

Chiconautla L 

Chinampa rinc W 

Chinampa en H 

Cliiquihuiteras T 

CMquis O 

Cliirivitos pte E 

Chopo A 

Ciegos. X 



Cinco de Mayo av K 

Cincuenta Siete (57) .... K 

Clerigo pte D 

Cocheras L 

Coconepan Z 

Colegio de Ninas K 

Colegio de Ninas plaz . . , K 
Colegio de San Juan 

Letran K 

Colegio de las Inditas ... N 

Coliseo K 

Coliseo Viejo K 

Colon I 

Colonia de los Arquitec- 

tos F 

Consuelo en. . , O, X 

Colorado pte X 

Comonfort pte J) 

Compuerta de S. Tomas, X 

Coneepeion E 

Concepeion plaz J 

Coneordia plaz L 

Condesa en K 

Corazon de Jesus V 

Corchero V 

Cordobanes M 

Corona C 

Corpus Cristi J, K 

Correo Mayor pte M 

Costado de Ex-Aeordada. I 

Coyote . N 

Cmees en , O, X 

Cruz Verde X 

Cuadrante de Sta, Cata- 

rina Martir L 

Cuadrante de S. Miguel. V 
Cuadrante de S. Sebas- 
tian N 

Cuadrante de Soledad de 

Sta. Cruz P 

Cuajomulco en I 

Cuea C 

Cuevas , X 

Cuervo pte . L, N 

Curtidores pte X 



128 



MEXICAl^ GUIDE. 



Damas T 

Damas en K, T 

Danza en X 

Dallas F 

Degollado av C 

Degollado en O 

Degollado plaz I 

Delicias E, T 

Diablo en U 

Dieguito en Y 

Dolores K 

Dolores en J 

Donate Guerra E 

Doneeles M 

Don Jnan Manuel . , V 

Don Toribio T 

Don Toribio en T 

Eliotrope . . . • A 

Embareaderos X 

Empedradillo M 

Encarnaeion L 

Escalerillas M 

Eselavo K 

Eseobilleria O 

Eseretoria en L 

Escobedo . . . . , C 

Eseondida T 

Escuela de Artes ealz ... A 

Espalda de Jesus Maria. O 

Espalda de S. Diego .... I 
Espalda de San Juan de 

Dios I 

Espalda de San Lorenzo. J 

Espalda de la Merced ... O 
Espalda de la Miserieor- 

dia J 

Espalda de Sta. Teresa.. O, N 

Espantados en E 

Espiritu Santo K 

Espiritu Santo pte K 

Esquiveles Comonfort 

pte D 

Estaeas N 

Estampa de Balvanera .M, V 



Estampa de la Merced . . X 

Estamjja de Eegina T 

Estaneo de las Muje- 

res E, J, L 

Estaneo de los Hombies. J,L 

Estanquillo en E 

Ex-Aeordada, costado de. I 

Factor K 

Ferroearril en D 

Fierro pte X 

Flamencos M 

Flores, Portal de las M 

Florida N 

Fernando en V, X 

Fresno A 

Gachupinesen J 

Gallos en V 

Gallos X 

Gallos pte K 

Gante K 

Garrapata V 

Garavito pte . . . .' Z 

Garavito en Z 

Garita. E 

Garita de Juarez G 

Garita del Nino Perdido. U 

Garita de Nonoalco A 

Garita de Peralvillo E 

Garita de San Cosme ... F 

Garita de San Lazaro ... H 

Garita de Vallejo B 

Garrote I 

Geronimo V 

Giron en L 

Golosas en L 

Gomez Parias H 

Groeolitos en H 

Groso en X 

Guadalupe E 

Guadalu^De ealz E 

Guardiola plaz K 

Guerras j)te J 



STKEETS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



129 



Guerrero av C, G 

Guerrero, Jardiu G 

Guerrero pte Z 

Hacienda de la Teja 

calz Q 

Hidalgo 

Higuera X 

Hombres Illustres av.G, I, L 
Hospicio del Amor de 

Dios O 

Hospicio de Pobres I 

Hospicio de S. Nicolas . . O 

Hospital de Jesus V 

Hospital Eeal T 

Huacalco ' I 

Humboldt av C, H, R 

Ignacio T 

Hdefonso L 

Independencia K 

Inditas, Colegio de N 

Indio Triste M 

Industria F 

Invatidos calz F 

Isabel, Sta , K 

Isabel, Sta. en K 

Iturbide I, G 

Jardin de San Fran- 
cisco. ... K 

Jardin Guerrero G 

Jardin Lopez J 

Jardin, Plazuela de J 

Jardin del Zocalo M 

Jazmin A 

Jesus V 

Jesus cer V 

Jesus pte V 

Jesus plaz V 

Jesus, Hospital de V 

Jesus Maria O 

Jesus Maria esp O 

Jesus Maria pte O 

Jose de Gracia V 



Joya V 

Juan Carbonero pte K 

Juan Carbonero plaz .... J, H 

Juauico en N 

Juan J. Baz R 

Juan J. Baz plaz X 

Juarez G 

Juarez, Garita de G 

Jurado X 

Junio21 D 

Ladrillera Z 

Laga J 

Lagartijas N 

Lagunilla en J 

Leclieras en O 

Lecumberri en N 

Leguisamo L 

Lena pte O 

Lerdo M 

Lerdo av C, H 

Limon en O 

Lopez K 

Lopez en X 

Lopez, Jardin de J 

Loreto plaz N 

Luna D 

Machincuepa O 

Madrid plaz . . . ^ I 

Magnolia F, G, H 

Magueyitos en H 

Manco'^cn T, U 

Manito X 

Manrique K 

Manzanares en O 

Mara villas O 

Mariscala pte K 

Marquezote O 

Matadero W 

Mayo 15 D 

Medinas L 

Meleros ' M 

Mercaderes, Portal de . . M 

Mercado D 



130 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



Mercado plaz A 

Merced O 

Merced, esp. de O 

Merced, est. de X 

Merced, Puerta falsa de . . X 

Merced pte O 

Mesones. T,V 

Migueles . . V, X 

Miguel Lopez J) 

Miguelito en O 

Mil Maa-avillas en R 

Mina G,H 

IMirador de la Alameda. . K 

Mirto F 

Misericordia J 

Misericordia, esp. de . . . . J 

Misericordia pte J ! 

Mixcalco O 

Mixcalco plaz O 

Mocteznma av G,H 

Moneda M 

Monserrate, Chapitel de . V 

Molino pte Y 

Monstrno N 

Montealegre M 

Monte Pio Viejo L, N 

Monterilla M,V 

Montero plaz J 

Monton X 

Monton en X 

Moras L 

Morelos plaz I 

Moscas O 

Mosqueta F, G, H 

Muerto en L 

Mnguiro en N 

Munoz X 



Nahuatlato X 

Naran jo en A 

Nava en U 

Necatitlan V,W 

Necatitlan cer W 

Nino Perdido, or Piedad . U 

Nino Perdido, Garita de . U 



Nonoalco, Garita de . . . . A 

Nopalito D. 

Nopalito en E 

Norma en I 

Norte F 

Nueva I 

Nuevo Mexico R 

Ocampo M,V 

Ocampo G 

Olivido en X 

Olivo (2) A 

Olivocn y, X 

Ollacn M 

Olmedo V, X 

Olmo A 

Organo en D 

Ortega T 

Pacheco X 

Pacheco en X 

Pacheco plaz O, X 

Pachito X 

Padre Lecuona en L 

Paja Y 

Pajaritos en T, U 

Palma M 

Palma X 

Palma en X 

Palma esp Z 

Palma plaz X 

Palomares plaz X 

Pane R 

Panetas . T 

Panteon X 

Papas en J 

Parados L 

Parque del Conde V 

Parque de la Moneda cer . O 

Paseo Nuevo R 

Paseo de Bucareli . . , , G, R, S 
Paseo de la Reforma. . Q, R, G 

Paseo de la Viga Y 

Patoni G, I 



STREETS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



131 



Paz F 

Pelota en I 

Penitenciaria calz E, G 

Pemlvillo E 

Peralvillo, Garita de E 

Perpetua L 

Pere Jo pte T 

Pescadi R 

Piedad, or Nino Perdido . U 

Piedad calz S 

Pila Aznl en O 

Pila de la Habana J 

Pila Seca J 

Pino F 

Pinto en I 

Pipis pte Y 

Plantados N 

Plateros M 

Polilla en T 

Porta Coeli M 

Porta Coeli, bajos de . , . . M, V 

Portal del Coliseo Viejo. K 

Portal de las Flores M 

Portal de Mercaderes, . . M 
Portal de Prado (TeejDan 

de San Juan) T 



Portal de Refne'io 



M 



Portal de Sto. Domingo. L 

Portal de Tejada T 

Portal de Tlapaleros M 

Portillo de San Diego ... I 
Potrero de San Agus- 

tin Z 

Pradera Z 

Pradito H 

Prado, Portal de (Tecpan 

de San Juan) T 

Prima B 

Profesa (3rd S. Fran- 
cisco) K 

Progreso K 

Progreso en . K 

Providencia R 

Pneblita. B, C 

Puente del Molino plaz . X 



Puentecito en E 

Puerta Falsa de S. An- 
dres K 

Puerta Falsa de S. Do- 
mingo J, L 

Puerta Falsa de la Mer- 
ced X 

Puesto Nuevo X 

Puesto Nuevo en X 

Pulqueria de Celaya L 

Pulqueria de Palacio ... O 

Pulqueria de Palacio en . O 

Quebrado pte T 

Quemada X 

Quesadas X 

R^bano plaz U 

Balono del Obispo en . . . J 
Banelio de Casa Blanco 

calz Q 

Rastro V 

Rastro plaz W 

Ratas T 

Ratas en. X 

Real de Sta Ana E 

Real de Santiago D 

Rebeldes T 

Recabado en I 

Reeogidas W, V 

Reeogidas en V 

Ref orma en J 

Ref orma, Paseo de la . Q, R, S 

Refugio M 

Regina T 

Regina plaz T 

Rejas de la Balvanera. . . M 

Bejas de la Coneepcion .J, K 

Rejas de S. Geronimo. . . V 

Relama en V 

Reloj E, L 

Revillagigedo I, R 

Reyes R 

Risco x^laz V, W 

Rivera en. (2) 0, E 



132 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



Eivera de Sau Cosme. . . F 

Eobles P 

Eoldan O 

Eiosa A 

Bosales G 

Eosario pte P 

Sabino A 

Salitreria en T 

SaltodelAgua T, U 

Salsipuedes en K 

San Agustin, Arco de . . . V 

San Agustin, bajos de . . V 

San Agustin, Potrero de Z 
San Agustin, Tercer Or- 

den de T, V 

Santa Ana pte E 

Santa Ana plaz E 

San Andres K 

San Andres, Puerta falsa 

de K 

San Antonio Abad W, Y 

San Antonio Abad pte . . W, "¥ 

San Antonio Abad calz . . W 

San Antonio Tomatlan . U 

Santa Barbara D 

Santa Barbara en. (2) .... I, X 

San Bernardo M 

Santa Catalina de Sena L 

Santa Catarina E, L 

Santa Catarina cbe L 

Santa Clara K 

Santa Clara en K 

San Camilo X 

San Cosme calz F 

San Cosme, Caneria de . , F 

San Cosme, Garita de . . . F 

San Cosme, Eivera de . . , F 

Santa Cruz plaz O 

Santa Cruz Acatlan plaz. W 

San Diego I 

San Diego esp I 

San Diego, Portillo de . . I 

San Diego rinc I 

San Dieguito Z 



San Dimas, or Venero, 

pte V 

Santo Domingo M 

Santo Domingo, cerca de L 

Santo Domingo, Portal de L 
Santo Domingo, Puerta 

falsa de J, L 

Santo Domingo plaz .... L 
Santo Domingo, Sepul- 

cros de . . L 

Santa Escuela en P 

Santa Efigenia en O 

San Felipe de Jesus .... V 

San Felipe Neri T 

San Fernando plaz G 

San Francisco K 

San Francisco pte K 

San Francisco, Jardin de K 

Santa Gertrudis en V 

San Geronimo P 

San Hipolito , . . . . I 

San Hipolito en I 

Santa Ines M, O 

Santa Isabel K 

Santa Isabel en K 

Santiago E 

Santiago plaz D 

Santiago, Eeal de D 

Santiaguito pte. (2) . . . .D, X 

San Jose de Gracia T 

San Jose el Eeal K 

San Juan T 

San Juan de Dies I 

San Juan de Dios esp ... I 

San Juan de Letran K 

San J. deNepomuceno en H 

San Juanico en N 

San Lazaro pte O 

San Lazaro, Garita de . . . P 

San Lorenzo J 

San Lorenzo, cerca de . . J 

San Lorenzo, esp J 

Santa Maria calz J 

Santa Maria pte J 

Santa Maria rinc J 



STREETS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



133 



Santa Maria en H 

Santa Maria plaz H 

Santa Maria de la Bivera. F 

San Miguel V 

San Miguel cer V 

San Miguel cte V 

San Nicolas, Hospicio de. O 

San Pablo pte X 

San Pablo plaz X 

San Pedro j S. Pablo. . .L,M 

San Rafael calz F 

San Eamon X 

San Salvador el Seco U 

San Salvador el Seco plaz U 
San Salvador el Verde 

plaz W 

San Sebastian L 

San Sebastian cte N 

San Sebastian plaz N 

San Sebastian pte ...... N 

San Simon de Eojas en . . O 

Santa Teresa M 

Santa Teresa cer M 

Santa Teresa esp O, N 

Santo Tomas X 

Santo Tomas, Compuerta 

de X 

Santo Tomas plaz X 

Santa Vera Cruz en I 

Santa Ysabel K 

Santa Ysabel en K 

Santisima O 

Santisima pte. (2) O, T 

Santisima plaz O 

Saj)o E 

Sepulcros de S. Domingo L 

Seminario M 

Siete Principes O 

Solano pte O 

Soledad cte P 

Soledad de Sta Cruz O 

Sombreros en I 

Solis en O 

Soto H, I 

Soto en I 



Sur F 

Susanillo O 

Tabaqueros en M,V 

Tacuba M 

Talavero en X 

Tarasquillo en I 

Tecolotes jDte D 

Teci^an de S. Juan plaz . . T 

Tecumarana N 

Teja en , . . . T 

Tejada, Portal de T 

TenesjDa en E 

Tepechichilco en J 

Tepozan en E 

Tequezquite plaz J 

Tereer Orden de S. Agus- 

tin T,V 

Tezontlale pte E 

Tiburcio T 

Tiradero en Y 

Titireteros en X 

Tizapan en U 

Tlapaleros M 

Tlazcoaque en W 

Tompeate pte V 

Topacio X 

Tornito de Eegina T 

Toro en I 

Trapana X 

Triunfo en T, U 

Tumbaburros T 

Universidad M 

Ureno en X 

Valle C 

Vallejo, Garita de B 

Vanegas O 

Vaquita en J 

Vazquez en E 

Veas en O 

Venero, or SanDimas pte V 

Verdas E 

Verde V 



134 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 



Vergara K 

Veronica N 

Viboritas en X 

Victoria ' T 

Viga Canal. Y 

Viga, Paseo de la Y 

Villamil plaz J 

Villamil pte J 

Vina en. (2) D,E 

Violeta..... F, G, H 

Vizcaynas T 

Vizcaynas en T 

Vizcaynas plaz T 

XicotencatI X 



Ysabel K 

Yturbide I, E 

Zacate, pte. de J 

Zacate en. V 

Zapateros L 

Zarco av C, H, I 

Zaragoza C, G 

Zaragoza O 

Zaragoza plaz 

Zavoja P 

Zocolo, Jardin de M 

Zoquipa calz Z 

Zuleta K,T 



///. MUNICIPALITY OF MEXICO. 

Site, Climate, History, Statistics. — The City of 
Mexico, in lat. 19° 26' 5" north, long. 99° 6' 45" west from 
Greenwich, capital of the Federal district and of the Ke- 
public of Mexico, lies nearly in the centre of the Valley 
of Mexico, at an elevation of 7,434 feet above the level 
of the sea. The climate usually is mild, though ranging 
between rather wide summer and winter extremes— 35° 
to 90° in the shade, and 45° to 120° in the sun (Fahren- 
heit), During the winter the "northers" that visit 
Vera Cruz are felt in the capital in a milder form, but 
with sufficient intensity to render a fire — that practi- 
cally is an unobtainable luxury — very desirable. The 
winter climate usually is dry, the rainy season lasting 
usually from June to September. 

Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec city, covered (as Mr. 
Bandeher shows) about one-fourth of the area covered 
by the existing City of Mexico. Its centre was the great 
teocalli (temple), on or neai- the site now occupied by the 



MUNICIPALITY OF MEXICO. 135 

cathedral ; its circumference was about half a mile from 
this centre — that is, about the distance from the ca- 
thedral to the eastern end of the Alameda. Of the num- 
ber of its inhabitants no trustworthy record exists. 
This primitive cit}'' was destroyed utterly by the Span- 
iards during and after the siege. 

The Sj^anish city was founded in the year 1522, the 
fii'st building erected being the atarazanas (naval arsenal), 
in which were guarded the hergantines (see Texcoco) so 
successfully used by Cortes in his final assault upon 
Tenochtitlan. Senor Orozco y BeiTa was of the opinion 
that this fortified building stood near the site of the pres- 
ent church of San Lazaro. The city increased rapidly 
in size and importance. In 1600 the population con- 
sisted of 7,000 Spaniards and 8,000 Indians ; and the 
value of its real estate was estimated at $20,000,000. 
By 1746 its population was 90,000. The founder of mod- 
ern Mexico was the eccentric but excellent Viceroy Don 
Juan Vicente Giiemes Pacheco, Conde de Kevillagigedo 
(1789-94). When he became Viceroy the city was mean 
and foul beyond all description, unHghted, unpaved, 
and infested by footpads. At the expiration of his short 
term of government it was clean, drained, its j)rincipal 
streets paved and Hghted, an effective police force estab- 
lished, and the custom of building handsome and sub- 
stantial dwellings firmly established. The census taken 
by order of the Conde de Kevillagigedo showed a popu- 
lation of 112,926 souls. 

From this time onward the city has increased con- 
stantly in size and in the elegance of its buildings, both 
public and private. Of late years, its tendency of growth 
has been northwestward, as witness the handsome sub- 
urbs of Santa Maria, Guerrero, and the Ai-quitectos. 



136 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

For a city of Spanish foundation the streets and side- 
walks are remarkably wide, though the streets, as a rule, 
are ill-paved — notable exceptions being the fine pave- 
ments of the streets of San Francisco and Plateros and 
of a part of the Cinco de Mayo. These streets, and the 
Plaza Mayor, are lighted by electric lamps ; elsewhere 
gas and oil lanterns are used. An excellent police sys- 
tem is maintained. Water is provided in abundance by 
two aqueducts and a pipe service, besides which nearly 
500 artesian wells have been sunk. The drainage sys- 
tem — if it can be called a sj'^stem — is thoroughly and 
radically bad, incorrect in its engineering, and ineffec- 
tive in its results. To this cause is to be attributed the 
constant presence of typhoid and consequent great mor- 
tality among the poorer classes. Among the richer 
classes — well-fed, well-clad, well-housed, and, most im- 
portant, seldom living on ground-floors — the disease 
rarely appears. The existing city is about two miles 
and a half square, and has a population (estimated) of 
300,000 souls. 

Diputacion, or Palacio del AyuntamBerjto (City 
Hall, M. 132), on the southern side of the Plaza Mayor. 
The site upon which this building stands was set apart, 
when the city was partitioned among the conquerors, as 
that upon which a house should be erected for the use of 
the municipal government ; and by May 10, 1532, the first 
small building was completed and in possession of the 
officials of the new city. In 1564 a larger and more 
imposing building was erected — that was almost totally 
destroyed, rather more than a century later, in the great 
riot of June 8, 1692. It remained in this ruinous con- 
dition until October 3, 1720, when the present building 
was begun. The first story, with the fine portales, was 



MUNICIPALITY OF MEXICO. 137 

finished in 1722, and the entire building was completed 
Februaiy 4, 1724, at a cost of $67,861. In the council 
chamber is a very interesting collection of portraits of 
the governors of Mexico from the time of Cortes. 

The government of the City of Mexico is vested in an 
Ayuntamiento (city council — as nearly as the word can 
be rendered in English) composed of nineteen regidores 
(approximately, aldermen) and two syndics. The admin- 
istration of municipal affairs is admirable, being at once 
economical, energetic, and effective. The city, at least 
the better portion, is a municipal miracle of cleanliness 
(looking at it from the stand-point of New York) ; the 
police are well disciplined and effective ; the streets are 
very fairly lighted ; the city ordinances are judicious and 
rigorously enforced. Nor is this excellence of municipal 
government peculiar to the capital : it seems to obtain 
in all Mexican cities and towns. 

Me read OS (markets). — The largest and most impor- 
tant market of Mexico, the Volador, south of the National 
Palace, occupies a site that was included in the grounds 
of the " new house " of Montezuma, and, therefore, after 
the Conquest was a part of the property of Cortes. The 
land hereabouts was swampy, and for a long while this 
plot was a waste place in the city. Occasionally bull- 
fights took place here in celebration of the crowning of 
a new King of Spain or of the coming to Mexico of a new 
Viceroy ; and here was held the celebrated auto defe (the 
burning being at the usual place, in front of San Diego) 
of April 10, 1649 — one of the most imposing church fes- 
tivals ever held in Mexico. In order to free the Plaza 
Mayor from the encroachments of small shop-keepers, the 
Ayuntamiento decreed, on the 2d of January, 1659, that 
the bakers, fruit-sellers, and pork dealers should be re- 



138 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

moved thence to the Plaza de la Universidad — popularly 
known, because of a game of ball formerly played there, 
as the Volador — and since that time the chief market oi 
the city has been established here. For nearly two hun- 
dred years the city rented the land from the heirs of Cor- 
tes. In 1837, by purchase from the Duke of Monteleone, 
the city possessed the property in fee for a consideration 
of $70,000. The present arrangement of narrow paved 
alleys between the stalls was completed in January, 1844. 
From the central portion of the city this is the most ac- 
cessible of the several markets, as well as the most 
characteristic. Besides being worth a visit in itself, pur- 
chases of fruit may be made here to better advantage 
than from the street-vendors — -the assortment being 
better and the prices lower. Cargadores always are in at- 
tendance to carry home purchases. The fee for this ser- 
vice should not exceed a medio, or, if the load is large 
or the distance more than ten minutes' walk, a real. The 
other important general markets are : the Merced — oc- 
cupying the site of the monastery of the same name ; 
San Juan, on the site of .a still older Indian market ; 
Jesus, and Santa Catarina. 

The Flower Market, in the garden west of the cathe- 
dral, is, in fact, a continuance of the custom of selhng 
flowers in the public markets that obtained in Mexico 
before the time of the Conquest. Here is a handsome 
pavilion of iron and glass where Indians bring for sale 
every day great quantities of all manner of lovely flowers. 
There is no fixed tariff of prices, and strangers usually 
are made to pay three or four times as much as resi- 
dents. But even when what are meant to be exorbitant 
prices are demanded, the actual sums are very small in 
comparison with the value received in huge masses of 



MUNICIPALITY OF MEXICO. 139 

flowers. On principle, however, it is as well that stran- 
gers should offer haK the price asked, and compromise 
on not more than three-quarters — a good general rule 
for all street-trading in Mexico. 

Portales. — These are arcades through which the side- 
walks pass, the space near the curb, between the pillars 
of the arches, being occupied by vendors of second-hand 
books and all manner of second-hand wares. One of 
the most exciting expeditions to be made in the city — 
supposing the traveller to have a taste for old books or 
bric-a-brac — is a round of these street shops of a Sunday 
or feast-day morning. (The old book-dealers, or the 
majority of them, will be found on w^eek-days also, 
together with some few of the second-hand dealers ; but 
only on a Sunday or feast-day morning will the visitor 
find a complete display.) The more notable portales are 
in the Calles Tlapaleros, Refugio, and Vie jo Coliseo, and 
in the Plaza of Santo Domingo. The Baratillo, and the 
shops adjoining the market of San Juan, also are places 
for shopping of this sort. Baskets, pottery, toys, and 
other native products are hawked about the streets. 
Things of this nature, when desirable, should be bought 
at once — for the street vendors are uncertain in their 
habits and the chance to buy may not occur again. In 
all deahngs with street vendors or small shopkeepers it 
is a good general rule to offer one-quarter, and to pay 
about one-third, or one -half, of the price asked. 

Prisons. — The municipality sustains a small temporary 
lock-up {deposito de detenidos) in the Palace of the Ayun- 
tamiento, and the large city prison — usually containing 
between 4,000 and 5,000 prisoners — of Belen, in the 
southwest suburb. This edifice is of a considerable an- 
tiquity. The college of San Miguel de Belen was found- 



140 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

ed April 25, 1683, as a school for girls, and was con- 
tinued in this use for nearly two hundred years. In 
September, 1862, the college was closed, the pupils then 
in the institution, one hundred and six, being removed 
to the Vizcainas (which see). A few months later the 
prison of Belen was established. The prison is dirty, 
unhealthy, badly-ordered, and crowded greatly in excess 
of its capacity. 

Hospitals, see Charitable Institutions. 



IV. FEDERAL BUILDINGS. 

Palacio Nacional (National Palace, M. 90). — When 
the lots of partition of the city of Tenochtitlan were drawn 
by the Spanish conquerors, the site now occupied by the 
National Palace fell to the lot of Cortes. Upon it had 
stood before the Conquest the then recently erected 
palace of Montezuma, described by the early chroniclers 
as "Montezuma's new house." Cortes caused to be 
built here a large, low house capped by four flank- 
ing towers. The property was confirmed to him by the 
royal order of July 6, 1529, and he and his heirs contin^ 
ued in possession of it until the year 1562, when it was 
bought by the crown and set apart as the Viceroyal resi- 
dence. The primitive building was destroyed in the 
great riots of 1692, in which year the present Palace was 
begun. Since that time additions have been made to it 
as occasion has required, until now the building is the 
largest, and one of the ugliest, in the city. It occupies 
the entire eastern side of the Plaza Mayor — having a 
frontage of six hundred and seventy-five feet. In the 
Palace are housed the following named departments of 



FEDERAL BUILDINGS. 141 

the Federal Government: Presidency, State, Treasury, 
Headquarters of the Army, Archives, Direccion General ; 
also, the Senate, the Post Office, and the Astronomical 
and Meteorological bureaux ; while two large barracks 
afford accommodations for several regiments. Architect- 
urally, there is little to commend this building save its 
size ; and even this, owing to its utter lack of proportion, 
is extraordinary rather than imposing. It is a mere ag- 
glomeration of parts, having been added to from time 
to time without any regard to continuity or general plan. 
The principal court {jpatio) is large and of handsome 
construction, as also is the court of the Presidency. The 
Hall of the Ambassadors reproduces the faults of the 
building as a whole : it is very large, but very badly 
proportioned. In it is a notable collection of full- 
length portraits of the prominent leaders of the revolt 
against Spain and of other celebrities, the work of lead- 
ing Mexican artists. Historically, the more notable 
of these portraits are, of Hidalgo, Yturbide, Morelos, 
Guerrero, Matamoras, and Allen de, together with the 
Presidents Ai'ista and Juarez. Artistically, the more im- 
portant are the Hidalgo by J. Ramirez and the Arista 
by Pingret. In one of the galleries of the Presidency is 
a fine allegorical picture, "The Constitution," by Petro- 
nilo Monroy, a modern Mexican painter of high stand- 
ing. There also is here the picture by P. Miranda com- 
memorating the battle of the "Cinco de Mayo" (May 
5, 1862). 

Camara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies, K. 
120). Upon the destruction by fire (August 22, 1872) 
of the hall in the National Palace occupied by the lower 
House of Congress, the Yturbide theatre was rented by 
the Federal Government for the temporary use of the 



142 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Deputies. The accommodation afforded by this build- 
ing being excellent, the use of the theatre in this man- 
ner has continued until the present time. The exterior 
of the building has but scant pretensions to elegance. 
The interior has been adapted to its present purpose by 
modifications of the stage and pit, the galleries remain- 
ing unchanged. 

Pa3acio de Justicia (Federal Court, M. 91), in a por- 
tion of the old convent of the Ensenanza (which see). 

Arzoblspado (archiepiscopal palace), northeast corner 
Calles Arzobispado and Seminario, now occupied by the 
department of Internal Eevenue and other Federal offices. 
The building is a very ancient foundation. In the year 
1530, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, first Archbishop of Mex- 
ico, began here the building of an episcopal residence ; 
and by the royal order of August 2, 1533, Charles V. 
provided that, inasmuch as the building fund was tithe 
money, the palace should pertain to the Archbishops of 
Mexico and should be lived in by them "forever and 
ever" (para siempre jamas). The palace was rebuilt in 
1730, and in the year 1800 the present building was com- 
pleted. In 1861 it was declared government property. 

Ciudadela (Citadel, R 130), in the southwestern sub- 
urb of the city, near the line of the horse railway to 
Tacubaya ; a large building, inclosing several acres, now 
used as an armory [fdbrica de armas). 

Ad u an a (Custom House, T>. 131), on the northern 
side of the Plaza of Santiago Tlaltelolco, was begun in 
1883 and was completed in 1886. The old church of 
Santiago Tlaltelolco, just west of it, now is dismantled 
and is used as a bonded warehouse. 

Casa de Moneda (Mint, L. 93), in the Calle del Apar- 
tado. Very soon after the Conquest there was established 




FEDERAL BUILDINGS. 143 

in the City of Mexico an assay office, for the valuation of 
refined silver, and that from the silver might be de- 
ducted the royal tribute. Ingots and bars bearing the 
stamp of this office were permitted to circulate in lieu 
of coin. The need for coin being urgent, it was decreed, 
by a royal order of May 11, 1535, that three mints 
should be established in America : one in Potosi (Bo- 
Hvia), one in Santa Fe (New Grenada), and one in the 
City of Mexico. In all of these establishments the regu- 
lations regarding coinage were identical with those gov- 
erning the royal mint in Castile. The demand for in- 
creased space led. to the removal of the Mint to the 
Viceroyal Palace in 1562, when the building was pur- 
chased by the crown from the heirs of Cortes ; and in 
1569 it was estabhshed beside the royal treasury. The 
pressure upon it increased constantly, and in 1729 a 
new and much larger building became necessary. The 
plans were prepared by Don Nicolas Peinado in 1730 ; 
were approved by a royal order of August 2, 1731, and 
the work was completed in 1734. The original estimates 
of cost were $206,000 ; the actual cost was $554,600. At 
this period the coining was farmed, much more to the 
interest of the farmers than to the interest of the govern- 
ment — for which reason, in 1733, the government took 
the coining into its own hands. As the Mint necessarily 
had to deal with a business that increased with great 
rapidity, a new enlargement became necessary in less 
than half a century — the work being completed between 
1772 and 1782 at a cost of $449,893. After the erection 
of Mexico into a Hepublic branch mints were established 
in several of the silver-producing centres, with the result 
of greatly diminishing the demands upon the establish- 
ment in the capital. Part of the building was used by 



144 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the government for other purposes, and the machinery 
was suffered to become antiquated and worn. With a 
view to restoring the Mint to a state of efficiency, the 
money required for the purchase of new machinery 
twice was appropriated — but, somehow, the new machin- 
ery was not bought ! By way of radical remedy, the 
government reverted to the Viceroyal custom of farming 
the coinage. By the act of February 23, 1847, the coin- 
age was leased, and the stipulation was made that it 
should be carried on in the building that the Mint now 
occupies. In 1850 this removal was effected, and coin 
issued under the new arrangement July 1st of the same 
year. The greater part of the machinery then put in was 
bought in England. In August, 1865, improved stamps 
were imported from the United States, and in Febiniary, 
1866, the beautiful coins of the Empire were issued. 
About $3,000,000 of the Imperial money passed into 
circulation, almost all of which was recoined after the 
Empire fell. Senor Garcia Cubas places the total coin- 
age of the Mint of Mexico between the time of its es- 
tablishment and the year 1883, at : gold, $81,859,873 ; 
silver, $2,261,334,899. 



V. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 

Biblioteca Nacional (National Library, Y. 102. Free. 
Open daily, feast-days excepted, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). 
The building in which the Library is housed, once the 
Church of San Agustin (which see), is massive, of mag- 
nificent proportions, and both inside and out its archi- 
tectural features are very fine. In common with all 
Spanish- American churches, its mass is admirable ; and 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 145 

in this case the columns, basso-relievos, friezes, and 
other embellishments, are executed in excellent taste. 
Particularly to be noted is the fine basso-relievo of San 
Agustin, over the main portal. The building has upon 
its north and west sides an ornamental garden sur- 
rounded by a high iron raiUng, the iron posts being sur- 
mounted by portrait busts of the following named Mexi- 
can celebrities : poets, Manuel Carpio, Francisco Manuel 
Sanchez de Tagie, Jose Joaquin Pesado, Fray Manuel 
Navarrete, and Netzahualcoyotl ; dramatist, Manuel 
Eduardo Gorostiza ; historians, Fernando A. Tezozomoc, 
Fernando A. Ixtlilxochitl, Francisco Javier Clavijero, 
Mariano Veytia, Lucas Alaman, and Fernando Ramirez ; 
juiist, Manuel de la Pena y Pena; philologist, Fray 
Juan Crisostomo Najera ; humanist, Carlos Sigiienza y 
Gongora ; naturalist, Jose A. Alzate ; chemist, Leopoldo 
Rio de la Loza ; Joaquin Cardoso, Jose Maria Lafragua. 
Facing the garden, from a niche in the western wall of 
the Library, is a large statue of Minerva. 

In the north front a noble portal, guarded by a 
wrought-iron gate, gives entrance to the marble-paved 
vestibule. From the pavement rises a line of Ionic col- 
umns, supporting the groined arches of the old choir ; 
and from this stately vestibule the great nave of the 
building is entered — a magnificent hall, along the sides 
of which rise slender pilasters, supporting the rich cornice 
whence spring the arches of the vaulted roof. Between 
the pilasters formerly were the openings into the several 
chapels ; these openings now are walled up, and the 
chapels form a series of alcoves parallel with the nave 
and connected with each other by door- ways cut through 
their dividing walls. Ample light is obtained from 
windows above the cornice, and from a noble window in 



146 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

tiie apse — in front of which is displayed a colossal cast 
in plaster, admirably modelled, of the arms of the Re- 
public. Balancing this work, a fine statue of Time, also 
colossal, stands in an open arch above the choir. Ranged 
on pedestals along the walls of the great nave are colos- 
sal statues of the following named fathers of learning : 
Valmiki, Confucius, Isaiah, Homer, Plato, Aristophanes, 
Cicero, Virgil, St. Paul, Origen, Dante, Alarcon, Coper- 
nicus, Descartes, Cuvier and Humboldt. On each side 
of the entrance are medallion portraits, the one of Jua- 
rez, by whom was issued the decree ordering the estab- 
lishment of the Library ; the other of Antonio Martinez 
de Castro, the IMinister of Justice by whom the decree 
received its official authorization. Annexed to the prin- 
cipal building is the old chapel of the Tercer Orden, 
used at present as a storehouse for unclassified books. 
This quaint edifice, in shape a Greek cross, contrasts 
very effectively with the majestic mass and elegant de- 
tails of the Library building proper. 

The Library, containing upward of 150,000 volumes, 
is composed mainly of books which were removed from 
the libraries of the several monasteries in accordance 
with the operation of the Laws of the Reform. It has 
also, notwithstanding its recent foundation, a consider- 
able collection of standard and current works in Spanish, 
French, English and German — a collection that is in- 
creased annually by judicious purchases. Naturally, 
its source being remembered, its strongest departments 
are theology and Church history, in both of which it is 
very rich ; and it is scarcely less rich in the department 
of Spanish-American history — which, indeed, during its 
first and second centuries, is little more than Church his- 
tory under another name. The labor of organizing and 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 147 

digesting the chaotic mass of books here brought to- 
gether has been very great ; nor is it yet ended. Al- 
ready, however, enough has been accomphshed to place 
at the easy disposition of students one of the most im- 
portant collections of books on the Continent ; and 
earnest is given by this hard work well done that what 
remains to be accomplished will be not less satisfactory. 
All students who require the use of this Library have 
cause for profound gratitude to its librarian, by whom 
order has been drawn from confusion, and by whom 
every facility and courtesy is afforded for earnest work, 
Don Jose Maria Vigil. 

Other Libraries of importance in the city are : Cinco 
de Mayo, in the old church of the Betlemitas, a free 
hbrary open daily from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and (feast-days 
excepted) from 3 to 7 p.m., containing 9,000 volumes ; 
Escuela Preparatoria, 8,000 volumes ; Escuela de Juris- 
prudencia, 14,000 volumes, and Escuela de Ingenieros, 
7,000 volumes. Each Department of state, the National 
Museum, the Academy of the Fine Arts, the several col- 
leges and scientific societies, possess libraries adapted to 
their several needs. There are also circulating libraries 
(see p. 30). In the Palacio Nacional are fourteen rooms 
filled with the National archives. 

Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (O. 103). Na- 
tional School of the Fine Arts ; usually spoken of as the 
Academy of San Carlos. Open daily from 12 to 3 p.m. ; 
Sundays and Feast Days from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admis- 
sion by card from the Secretary. A plan for admission 
on payment of an entrance fee is under consideration. 

In the year 1529 the eminent Franciscan Fray Pedro 
de Gante founded the College of San Juan de Letran, in 
which he established departments of music and drawing. 



148 MEXICAl^ GUIDE. 

This was the parent art school of Mexico. Eodrigo de 
Cifuentes, it is believed, arrived in New Spain as early as 
1523, and painted portraits of Cortes. The real art life 
of the colony began with the arrival, near the end of the 
sixteenth century, of the great artist Sebastian Arteaga, 
whose influence upon painting and architecture was so 
strong that he justly may be considered the founder of 
these arts in Mexico. And about the same time came to 
Mexico the eminent painters Alonzo Vasquez, and Baltasar 
Echave. With the latter came also the celebrated woman 
artist, known as La Sumaya, who was, according to tra- 
dition, both his wife and his instructor in painting. 
(The best example of this woman's work is the San Se- 
bastian, above the altar de Perdon, in the Cathedral of 
Mexico.) To the seventeenth century belong Herrera ; 
Andreas Lopez ; Aguilera ; Luis, Juan, and Nicolas Ro- 
driguez ; Cabrera, a Zapoteca Indian born in Oaxaca ; 
Jose, Luis, Rodriguez, and Nicolas Juarez ; Juan Correa ; 
Vallejo, a pupil of Cabrera's ; Ibarra ; Lopez ; Saenz ; 
Esquivel ; Zendejas ; Alcibar, and the sculptors Patiilo 
Instolinque (an Indian) and Cora. The works of these 
men are found all over Mexico. Many of them lived and 
worked into the early part of the eighteenth century, 
But of new material the eighteenth century, with the 
brilliant exception of Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras 
(see Celaya) produced practically nothing. Tresguerras, 
a great architect, and a painter and sculptor of marked 
ability, has been styled, not inaptly, ''the Michael Angelo 
of Mexico." 

The existing School of the Fine Arts had a smaU be- 
ginning in a school of engraving, established in the Mint 
(by a royal order given by Charles m., March 15, 1778), 
under the direction of the principal engraver, Geronimo 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 149 

Antonio Gil. This school was opened in May, 1779. 
The general interest manifested in the school of engrav- 
ing caused the Director of the Mint, Don Fernando Man- 
gino, to propose to the Viceroy, Don Martin de Maj^orga, 
the establishnient of an academy of the three noble arts, 
painting, sculpture, and architecture : and, the approval 
of the Viceroy being given, September 12, 1781, classes 
■were begun on the 4th of November of the same year. 
The project of formally founding an academy of the fine 
arts was a matter of such moment that it was referred to 
the crown. By the royal order of December 25, 1783, 
the king's approval was accorded, and license was given 
for founding the existing institution under the name of 
the Academia de las Nobles Artes de San Carlos de la 
Nueva Espafia ; and with much ceremony the Academy 
formally was opened November 4, 1785. Its first j^ro- 
fessors, sent from Spain, were the painter Aguirre, and 
the architect and painter Velazquez. In September, 1791, 
the classes were removed from the cramped quarters in 
the Mint to the building formerly occupied by the Hos- 
pital de Amor de Dios. In this building, much enlarged 
and improved, the Academy still remains. In the year 
of its removal hither, there catne from Spain, to take 
charge of its two more important departments, the 
painter Rafael Jimeno, and the architect Manuel Tolsa, 
— the latter bringing with him an admirable collection 
of casts from the antique (costing $40,000), sent by 
Charles III, This conjunction of fortunate circum- 
stances made the ensuing twenty years the most fruitful 
in the whole period of the Academy's existence. The 
troublous times of the war of Independence, and the 
subsequent epoch of anarchy, wofuUy disturbed the 
workings of this art school. In 1810 its endowment 



150 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

fund became exhausted, and, after struggling for an ex- 
istence during tlie ensuing eleven years, it was closed in 
1821. A small fund was provided from the city treasury 
that enabled the Council to resume the classes in Feb- 
ruary, 1824 ; and to continue them, though under diffi- 
culties, until 1843. By the decree of December 16, 
1843, the academy was permitted to receive the annual 
proceeds of a lottery ; with which the buildings, pre- 
viously rented, were purchased, much improved, and 
formally reopened January 6, 1847. The war of the Re- 
form brought another season of disaster ; but with the 
accession of the Juarez government came a period of 
prosperity that has continued until now — when, with an 
annual allowance of $35,000, the institution is in fairly 
flourishing circumstances. In 1868 the name of the 
Academy formally was changed to that of the National 
School of the Fine Arts, and at the same time various 
reforms were instituted in its organization and methods. 
Prizes are given for meritorious work by pupils, including 
a Roman prize of a pension of $600 a year for six years. 
The attendance at the classes averages about one hun- 
dred. The recently instituted night classes for artisans 
have proved a great success. All tuition is free. 

The galleries of the Academy are rather awkwardly 
lighted, and the handsome, but too pronounced, decora- 
tion of the third gallery tends somewhat to distract at- 
tention from the pictures themselves. The first and 
second galleries are hung with paintings of the early 
Mexican school, and the quality of the work here is so 
decidedly superior, with one or two exceptions in favor 
of the moderns, to that of the fourth and fifth galleries, 
in which the work of modern Mexican artists is shown, 
that there really seems to be some foundation for the 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 151 

sayincf that " the fonndinof of an Academy of the Fine 
Arts in Mexico was the death-blow to Mexican At't." 

The more notable works in the first gallery are : 
''Christ in the Garden," No. 21, by Luis Juarez, prob- 
ably his best pictui'e ; the " Adoration of the Magi," the 
"Holy Family," No. 21, and the wonderfully fine "Mar- 
tyrdom of San Apronianio," No. 6, all by Echave ; the 
" San Agustin," No. 13, very striking color combined 
with good drawing and composition, by Antonio Rodri- 
guez ; the quaint picture of the little saints and martyrs 
Justo and Pastor, No. 5, by Jose Juarez, and, in the same 
somewhat conventional style, by the same artist, the 
"Life of Saint Alexis," No. 4; the fine "Meeting of 
Mary and Elizabeth," No. 14, attributed to Ai-teaga — 
though the treatment of the hair rather suggests one of 
the Juarez ; the impressive " Christ and Saint Thomas," 
certainly by Arteaga, in which the principal figure is less 
well treated than are the secondary figures ; the dehght- 
ful portrait of "Don Joachin Manez de Sta Cruz, at the 
age of four years," by Nicholas Juarez. 

In the second gallery the more notable works are : 
*•' The Holy Sepulchre," No. 95, in which the Ught is so 
well carried off over the faces of the Virgin and Mag- 
dalen, the " Santa Ana and the Virgin," No. 65, and the 
" Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth," No. 63, especially 
beautiful in color, all by Echave ; the striking "Virgin 
of the Apocaljrpse," No. 13, by Cabrera ; the portrait, 
No. 69, of Cabrera, painted by himself ; the " Adoration 
of the Magi," No. 85, in which the painter, Nicholas 
Juarez, has introduced his own portrait — the second 
figure, on the picture's left, in blue drapery ; the "In- 
terior of the Convent of the Betlemitas," by Villalpando, 
interesting rather because of the subject than because of 



152 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the quality of the work. There is a quaintness and a ten- 
derness about Echave's work that, with his fine color, 
make his paintings exceedingly attractive. Ibarra, on 
the other hand, as seen in his four pictures, Nos. 45, 48, 
55, 58, is less impressive in his color, and is apt to be 
weak in his expression — though there certainly is de- 
lightful color in his " Women of Samaria," No. 48 ; and 
in his " Woman taken in Adultery," No. 55, there is a 
charming bit of expression in the face of the leaning-for- 
ward boy. He is seen at his best, probably, in the por- 
trait, No. 77. Of Cabrera's work probably the best ex- 
amples are his "Bernard " and "Anselm," in which are 
seen much more of his personality and of his fine tech- 
nique than in his great " Virgin of the Apocalypse." 

In the Sala de Actos, also examples of this early Mex- 
ican school, are a wonderfully fine "Crucifixion," by 
Arteaga ; a " Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," delightfully 
quaint in treatment, but excellent in drawing, color, and 
light and shade, by Luis Juarez, and a singularly beau- 
tiful " Virgin de la Purisima," by Aguilera. 

The third gallery is hung with pictures by European 
artists. Among the more notable works are : " San Juan 
de Dios, No. 123, by Murillo, a replica of his picture in 
the church of the Caridad in Seville ; a " San Eafael " 
No. 14, also believed to be by Murillo ; a " Saint John 
in the Desert," No. 9, attributed to Murillo, painted in 
his " ugly " style but certainly by him or by a very good 
artist of his school ; the important pictures, " San Fran- 
cisco," No. 55, and " San Antonio de Padua," No. 57, of 
the Seville school, and possessing Murillo-like qualities, 
by an unknown artist ; the " Christ Tormented," No. 61, 
attributed to Rubens : note the mocking face in the pic- 
ture's left, exactly in that artist's style ; the portrait of 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 153 

Kubens, No. 107, believed, and from good internal evi- 
dence, to have been painted by himself ; the " Seven 
Virtues," No. 39, painted on wood, attributed to Leon- 
ardo — whatever its source, this picture possesses unde- 
niably great qualities, the drawing is wonderfully fine, 
and the subdued coloring is enchanting ; a "San Sebas- 
Jtian, No. 14, attributed to Van Dyke ; a beautiful por- 
trait of Murillo, No. 104, believed to be by Velazquez ; 
the "Buen Pastor," No. Ill, by Kivera (Spagnoletto), 
much injured by time and bad treatment, but still show- 
ing its high quality ; two wonderfully well-painted pic- 
tures of Saint Gregory, Nos. 3 and 121, by Andrea 
Vaccara ; the " Santa Catalina de Sena," No. 6, very 
striking in its light and shade, and the "Santa Teresa," 
No. 1, both by Carreuo ; another " Santa Catalina de 
Sena," attributed, and probably justly, to Guercino ; 
two not especially interesting pictures, " Santa Barbara," 
No. 98, and " Santa Catarina," No. 105, attributed to 
Guido; the "Episode of the Flood," No. 71, by Cog- 
hetti ; the " Emaus," No. 117, by Zurbaran. The very 
striking portrait. No. 1, a woman in the habit of a Do- 
minican nun, is believed to be a portrait of Maria Ana 
de Austria, second wife (here represented as the widow) 
of Philip TV. The picture is supposed to be by Carrerio. 
The Uttle landscape room, opening from the third gal- 
lery, has an old-fashioned air about it that is highly sug- 
gestive of English landscape work of about half a century 
ago. The more notable works here are a court-yard. 
No. 31, by Goto, brilliant with almost Fortuny-like sun- 
light ; the inner court of the Loreto, No. 26, by Jimenez; 
and a well-painted and very interesting interior of the 
convent of San Francisco in the City of Mexico, No. 62, 
by Landesio. 



154 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

The fourth gallery, hung with the works of modern 
Mexican artists, has a general glaring effect of strong, 
crude color that is anything but agreeable. The more 
important works, those in which these unpleasant quali- 
ties are least conspicuous, are " Juana the Mad," No. 41, 
by Pelegrin Clave ; the " Giotto," No 87, by Jose Obre- 
gon, and the "Saint Charles Borromeo," that won for 
its painter, Solome Pina, the Eoman prize. 

The small fifth gallery contains the best utterances of 
modern Mexican art, and some of the work here is of a 
very high order of excellence. Some of these pictures, 
it is true — as the nude study. No. 16, by Felix Parra — 
are nothing more than uninteresting exhibitions of a 
considerable technical skill, yet some few are admirable 
examples of good technique manifested in an adequate 
treatment of subjects which intrinsically are picturesque. 
The " Job " of Carasco, the " Caridad Romano " of Luis 
Monroy, the " Margaret " of Felipe Ocadiz, the *' Galileo" 
of Parra, are pictures which would command attention 
anywhere. The "Las Casas"of Parra, in nobility of 
subject, grandeur and simplicity of treatment, and strong 
but subdued color, ranks as one of the great pictures of 
the world. Work such as this affords ample ground for 
faith in the future of Mexican art; 

Sculpture has not flourished in Mexico. In the gal- 
leries of the Academy are some few portrait busts in 
marble of fair quality, and a few plasters, notably the 
"Aztec Gladiator," "Columbus," "Dona Marina," and 
others by Vilar, of positive merit. The finest piece of 
sculpture by Mexican artists is the monument to Juarez 
in the Panteon de San Fernando, a very noble work by 
the brothers Yslas. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 165 

Museo Nacional (National Museum, opendail}', Sat- 
urdays excepted, from 10 a.m. to 12 m., M. 92), in the 
jijortion of the National Palace formerly occupied by the 
Mint, fronting on the Calle de Moneda. The existing 
large and most interesting collection is the outgro\Yth of 
what for manj years was a neglected department of the 
University. There, in two rooms and a courtyard, were 
exhibited the antiquities discovered from time to time 
about the city, together with some specimens of natural 
history, a few historic portraits, and other matters of in- 
terest, the whole being presided over by a single zealous 
but sadly undei^aid curator. When the University was 
extinguished, in 1865, the collection was ordered to be 
removed to the building that it now occupies ; but as this 
building then was utterly unsuited to its needs — being- 
even yet in process of adaptation — everything was stored 
until the necessary alterations could be made. With 
various interruptions, these alterations have been in prog- 
ress for a number of years, and although much still re- 
mains to be accomplished the work is now so far advanced 
that the rich collections may bei seen to fair advantage. 
A most marked improvement has been made in the pres- 
ent year in the completion of the south gallery on the 
ground floor, in w^hich the greater number of heavy pieces 
are to be displayed. The so-called " calendar stone," for 
many years embedded in the western tower of the cathe- 
dral, was removed to the south gallery of the Museum 
in 1886. 

The Museum is divided into two sections : Natural 
History, and Antiquities. The first of these, subdivided 
into the departments of mineralogy, palaeontology, zo- 
ology, and botany, can only be described as a fairl}^ good 
but very small beginning of the great work of represent- 



156 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

ing adequately the manifold natural products of Mexico. 
The department of Antiquities is a veritable treasure- 
house, upon the organization of which has been expended, 
with obviously satisfactory results, a vast amount of in- 
telligent labor and thought. It includes a very curious 
and imj)ortant collection of prehistoric remains : arms and 
devices, utensils, jewels and ornaments, idols, imitative 
heads, picture-writings, and so forth, related to ancient 
Mexicans ; together with portraits and relics associated 
with the history of the country subsequent to the Con- 
quest. 

The Stone of the Sun. — The laborious investigations of 
Antonio de Leon y Gama resulted in giving to this block 
the erroneous name of the " Aztec Calendar Stone." The 
history of the stone and its present name were estab- 
lished successively by Senor Chavero and by Dr. Valen- 
tini. From the facts known concerning it, Mr. Bande- 
lier * infers " that the Stone of the Sun was originally 
placed on one of the artificial mounds in the centre of 
the Indian pueblo of Mexico [Tenochtitlan], and that it 
served as the base of the smaller perforated stone to 
which the victim was tied, and that upon the two stones 
the gladiatorial sacrifice was performed." Specimens 
of the smaller stones here referred to will be found in 
the large south gallery of the Museum. They are very 
like small mill-stones. A block of this kind and size, 
with a rope passed through it and fastened to the ankle 
or even around the body of a man, would be of sufficient 
weight to hold him fast, unless he was of gigantic 
strength ; but two men easily could lift it, to fasten or 

* "Report of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico in 1881,'' by A. F. 
Bandelier. Published for the Archseological Institute of America 
by Cupples, Uphaia & Co., Boston, 1884. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 157 

replace the cord. These stones sometimes are called 
iemalacatl. In regard to the carvings upon the Stone of 
the Sun, the following parts of them are ascertained be- 
yond all doubt : The central figure, representing the 
sun, and perhaps the year also ; the twenty figures 
placed in a circle around it, representing the twenty 
days of the Mexican month ; the date, 13th acatl, cor- 
responding with 1479 A.D., above the head of the sun on 
the rim or border. Seuor Chavero and Dr. Valentini 
have carried the interpretation further, but their inter- 
pretation requires confirmation. 

The Idol Huitzilopochtli (called also Teoyaomiqui). 
This huge idol of porphyritic basalt, nearly nine feet 
high, stands in the southern gallery of the Museum. 
It is covered with carvings almost to overloading. How- 
ever well executed some of them are when taken singly, 
their combination is devoid of symmetry. The general 
effect is appalling, presenting a most hideous agglomer- 
ation of repulsive forms. The two faces of this sculpture 
are not alike. Antonio de Leon y Gama adopts the 
view that one represents a male, the other a female 
fig-ure ; and calls the rear figure Huitzilopochtli and the 
front Teoyaomiqui, stating that the latter was the for- 
mer's companion. By an exhaustive examination of orig- 
inal authorities Mr. Bandelier finds that not one of the 
older writers upon Mexico mentions an idol or deity 
called Teoyaomiqui ; and by a close chain of eliminative 
reasoning he anives at the conclusion that this figure 
was "the well known war god of the Mexican tribe, 
Huitzilopochtli ; and that, consequently, it was the fam- 
^ous principal idol of aboriginal Mexico, or Tenochtitlan." 
'B The Sacrificial Stone, also in the southern gallery. 
The late archaeologist and historian, Don Manuel Orozco 



158 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

y Berra, has written at great length upon this relic,* 
showing that it is at once a votive and commemorative 
monument celebrating the victories of the chief Tizoc 
over the tribes represented by the figures carved upon 
the circumference of the cylinder. These figures, dis- 
posed in groups of two, represent conqueror and con- 
quered ; the victor holding the vanquished by the hair, 
the latter holding a bunch of inverted arrows. In the 
panel in which each of these groups is carved is seen, 
near the back of the prisoner's head, the phonetic sym- 
bol of the name of his tribe. The effigy of the sun, 
carved upon the upper surface, indicates that the work 
as a whole is a votive offering to that deity. Senor Oroz- 
co y Berra placed the date (accepted also by Senor Gar- 
cia Cubas) of the construction of this monument be- 
tween the years 1481-86. Mr. Bandelier accepts his 
conclusions in regard to the character of the sculpture 
and its general purpose ; but does not accept the date 
that he assigns to it, nor his interpretation of the carv- 
ings. In writing of the two known (by existing speci- 
mens) varieties of sacrificial stones, techcatl and cuauhxi- 
calli, Mr. Bandelier affirms that this stone "has been 
thoroughly identified as belonging to the last named 
variety." He adds : "It is circular, and its distinguish- 
ing features are the cup-shaped concavity in the centre, 
and the channel which runs therefrom to the outer rim." 
Seiior Ramirez (quoted by Senor Garcia Cubas) explains 
that when the stone was dug up in the Plaza, near the 
cathedral (December 17, 1791), it was considered too 
heavy to move, and was ordered to be broken up that it 

* " El Cuauhxicalli de Tizoc," AnaUs del Musco JVacwnal, vol. i., 
No. 1. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 159 

might be used for paving stones — as was done with 
many similar relics ; and that the process of cutting 
actually was begun, as the channel cut in it shows, but 
was stopped by the Canon Gamboa, who happened then 
to pass that way, and who ordered the stone to be pre- 
served. It is obvious that in regard to this relic there 
is a trifling clashing of facts and opinions. 

Tlie Indio Triste (the Sad Indian), in the south gallery. 
Mr. Brantz Mayer was the first observer to point out the 
true meaning of this curious statue. He wrote : "This 
figure probably was set on the wall or at the portal of 
some edifice, and in its hand was erected a banner or 
insignia of command." In the most satisfactory manner 
Mr. Bandelier has verifi.ed this shrewd inference. He 
quotes from the writings of Fray Juan de Tobar this 
portion of the description of the place of worship of 
Huitzilopochtli : "It had on the tops of the chambers 
and rooms where the idols were a handsome balcony [or 
balustrade] made of many small stones as black as jet, 
set with much regularity, so as to form a field checkered 
black and white, very conspicuous from below ; over this 
balcony there rose turret-like battlements, and on the 
top of the pillars were two Indians of stone, seated, with 
candlesticks in their hands." Mr. Bandelier therefore 
concludes : "I have unhesitatingly accepted the Indio 
Triste as a torch-bearer of stone — consequently as a mere 
ornament, without any direct relations to worship what- 
ever." This piece of sculpture was dug up in the street 
(now called the Calle del Indio Triste) in the year 1828. 
How it came by its present name is not of record ; nor 
can any good reason for it be found. A merrier little 
smack-chops of an Indian never was put into stone. 

Two colossal heads of snakes, in the south gallery. 



160 MEXICAiq- GUIDE. 

Surrounding tlie cluster of mounds of worship in tlie 
pueblo of Tenochtitlan was a wall composed of colossal 
heads of serpents carved in stone. Senor Garcia Cubas, 
by whom these interesting relics were discovered, has 
shown that they were a part of the ancient cohuatepantli, 
or snake-wall. The stones were found beneath one of 
the columns of the first cathedral (razed in the year 157-2) 
having been used as a part of the foundation. They 
were buried again, and were rediscovered by Seiaor 
Garcia Cubas when the garden south and west of the 
cathedral was made in 1881.* 

Coiled serpent, in the south gallery ; a serpent coiled 
in pyramidal form, its body covered wdth feathers, carved 
in basaltic porphyry. As is pointed out by Seiior Garcia 
Cubas, this fantastic effigy is found repeated in many of 
the ancient Mexican monuments, often of colossal size. 
It is received as the symbol of one of the oldest and 
most famous divinities of the American pantheon ; 
American, because it is found, but slightly modified, in 
all parts of the continent. In this myth is preserved (in 
Mexico, and regions south of that country, certainl}') the 
memory of a mysterious white and bearded jDersonage 
who taught a strict and pure morality ; who brought 
the knowledge of the sciences and arts ; who is regarded 
as having been at once the priest and the civilizer of the 
people. Naturally, among a semi-barbarous people, this 
personage, possessing such god-like attributes, as time re- 
moved the memory of his personality, became a divinity. 
The Peruvians called him Manco-Capac ; the Muiscas, 

* There is strong reason for believing that many more Aztec 
relics remain buried in this vicinity. In the course of excavation 
in the Plazuela del Seminario, in October, 1885, an important 
sculptured stone was found. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 161 

Bocliicii ; the Yucatanos, Kukulcan ; the Mexicans, Quet- 
zalcoatl. The Christian missionaries, astonished at find- 
ing among a semi-barbarous and heathen people traces 
of a j)ure system of morahty, and of customs very Hke 
those of Christianity, fancied that this mysterious per- 

Isonage must have been either one of the Disciples of 
Christ, or one taught du'ectly by Him or His Apostles, 
who had come to preach the true faith in the new world. 
Several Mexican writers (notably the celebrated Dr. 
Mier, in his address before the Spanish Academy) demon- 
strated to their own satisfaction that he was no other 
than the Apostle Saint Thomas — an important feature of 
their argument being that in Spanish Quetzalcoatl is ren- 
dered Tomas. Seiior Orozco y Berra was the first to draw 
attention to the rather awkward conjunction of facts that 
this supposed Saint Thomas figured in Mexican history 
about the tenth century of our era, while the genuine 
Saint Thomas undeniably belonged in the first. Seiior 
Orozco y Berra makes the very reasonable suggestion 
that the mysterious personage may have been a Christian 
missionary from Iceland. The significance of quetzal-coall 
Senor Garcia Cubas shows, is " serpent of quetzalli." The 
word quetzaUi anciently had a variety of significations, 
though all j)^i'taking of the same general nature. Its 
root is quetzal, meaning a species of bird-of-paradise — 
- though applied especiall}^ to the two long and brilliant 
tail-feathers of that bird, that constituted one of the prin- 
cipal articles of tribute paid to the Mexican chiefs. From 
this direct meaning its metaphorical use as descriptive of 
anythingvery precious naturally followed — and thus it be- 
came appHed to the man-god, Quetzalcoatl. Besides this 
very fine and perfect specimen, the Museum possesses 
many specimens, large and small, of the serpent symbol. 



162 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

God of Fire, also called Chac-Mool (two specimens), in 
souttiern gallery. The larger of these two figures — a re- 
cumbent colossal figure, holding over the navel with both 
hands a round disk with narrow rim — was exhumed by 
Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon at Chichen-Itza, in Yucatan. 
By them it was described as a personal monument, or 
sepulchral statue, and was given the name of Chac-Mool. 
From the fact that at least three other similar figures 
have been discovered in other parts of Mexico — one of 
which is the smaller figure near it, found in the State 
of Tlaxcala — the name, and the theory that are thus 
advanced, do not seem to be tenable. Senor Chavero 
has advanced the more probable suggestion that the fig- 
ure represents the God of Fire, and that the disk held 
in its hands is the emblem of the sun. Very bitter con- 
troversies have raged, and still are raging, over the up- 
turned stomach of this defenceless stone image, the chief 
point at issue being whether it was, or was not, an idol. 
Without venturing into the arena of this painful discus- 
sion^ at least this much of Mi'. Bandelier's remarks con- 
cerning the figure — being also an admirable criticism of 
early Mexican stone-work — may be quoted in safety : 
" I have already alluded," he writes, " to the imperfec- 
tions of aboriginal art in Mexico. While many of the 
faces and heads are well done, particularly those of clay, 
this excellence very rarely, if ever, extends to the other 
parts of the body. On the contrary, there is always a 
certain disproportion and consequent lack of harmony. 
The Chac-Mool, which (excepting, perhaps, the Indio 
Triste) is the best of all, still shows strange defects in 
the proportions of its lower limbs. The same is true in 
regard to the figures of animals. Quadrupeds are mostly 
rude in shape ; still I have seen more than one head of a 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 163 

tiger wlucli is fairly executed. Birds are always mon- 
sters, the workmen being unable to overcome the dif- 
ficulty of rendering the j)lumage ; but all simple forms 
like snakes, turtles, frogs, and reptiles general^, seem to 
be well imitated. Thus the head, coils, and rattles of the 
rattlesnake are excellent. Fishes are poorly represented ; 
and plants, which occur rarely except as leaves and sin- 
gle flowers, are mostly of stift^ conventional tj'^pes. The 
art of sculpture in aboriginal Mexico, while considerably 
above that of the Northern Village Indians, is still not 
superior to the remarkable carvings on ivory and wood 
of the tribes of the Northwest coast, and often bears a 
marked resemblance to them." 

In addition to these more important objects, the south 
gallery contains numerous other objects in stone deserv- 
ing careful attention. In the upper floor of the Museum 
are several galleries containing smaller objects. The col- 
lection of arms and weapons is excellent, and may be 
studied to especial advantage in connection with Mr. Ban- 
delier's exceedingly interesting " Art of War and Mode of 
Warfare of the Ancient Mexicans " ; and to like advantage 
may be studied the less complete (for lack of space, not 
for lack of material) collection of objects illustrative of 
house life, articles of dress, and tools, in connection with 
his " Social Organization and Mode of Government of 
the Ancient Mexicans." * The most famous of the pic- 
ture-writings here preserved is that believed to represent 
the migrations of the Aztec tribes. The most interesting 
personal relic of the vanquished race is the shield of 
Montezuma 11. 

* Persons conversant with Spanish will find still more ample in- 
formation on these heads in the scholarly " Historia Antigua y de 
la Conquista de Mexico " by the late Sr. Lie. Manuel Orozco y Berra. 



164 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

In the historical section of the Museum will be found 
another and not less interesting class of objects. Of these 
may be mentioned : the standard raised by Hidalgo, 
September 16, 1810 — the picture of the Virgin of Guada- 
lupe from the Santuario de Atotonilco ; the stole, gun, 
cane, silk handkerchief and chair once belonging to the 
liberator-priest ; the Standard of the Conquest, the red 
damask flag carried by the Conquerors ; a portrait of 
Cortes ; arms and armor of the time of the Conquest, 
including the helmet and breast-plate belonging to Pe- 
dro de Alvarado ; portraits of the Viceroys ; silver table- 
service belonging to the Emperor Maximilian (the state 
coach of this unlucky emperor is preserved in one of the 
lower rooms) ; and various other objects intimately con- 
nected with the persons of those most notable in Mexi- 
can history. 

An excellent descriptive catalogue (in Spanish) of the 
possessions of the Museum has been prepared by its Di- 
rector, Senor Gumesindo Mendoza, assisted by Professor 
Jesus Sanchez. The work, in sjDite of very serious ob- 
stacles, that Senor Mendoza has done in assembliug and 
organizing the materials of the Museum cannot be too 
warmly praised. 



VI. RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 

Before the separation from Spain, almost ever}' public 
institution in the Province was a religious foundation — 
schools, hospitals, asylums, even the principal theatre 
of the city : all had their origin in the church. As the 
term is used here, however, its meaning is restricted to 
churches, and to establishments of which a church was the 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 165 

principal or a very prominent part. Yet as a church was 
a part of ahnost everything in that earher time, a few of 
the churches of the city are not included in the follow- 
ing list, but are treated of in connection with the build- 
ings to which they pertained. In the general index will 
be found the names of all the churches in the citv, in al- 
phabetical order. 

The Cathedral./ The Bishopric of Mexico was erect- 
ed by Pope Clement VII. in 1527. ?<Dn the 12th of Decem- 
ber of that year, Fray Juan de Zumarraga was presented 
to the Pope as Bishop of Mexico, by Charles V. ; and 
in December of the year ensuing he arrived in the 
city with the title of Bishop Elect and Protector of the 
Indians. He was confirmed in his position by the bull 
of September 2, 1530. The Archbishopric was erected 
by Poj)e Paul 11., January 31, 1545, when Bishop Zu- 
marraga was raised to the Archiepiscopate. 

The Cathedral, the Holy Metropolitan Church of Mex- 
ico, consecrated as the Church of the Asuncion de Maria 
Santisima, is built upon or near the site of the great 
Aztec temple (teocalli) that the Spaniards destroyed 
when the city was conquered in 1521. Upon the parti- 
tion of the city this site was set apart, that upon it 
should be built a Christian church ; and the church, a 
very small one, actually was built previously to the year 
1524. It was replaced, in a few years, by the first cathe- 
dral ; a small edifice, in fact, but spoken of with great 
admiration by contemporaneous chroniclers. Philip II., 
desiring to place here a larger and more stately struc- 
ture, sought and obtained permission from Clement VH., 
to destroy this first cathedral that the second might be 
begun. The first stone of the existing building was 
laid in the year 1573 ; but in order to preserve the older 



166 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

structure until tbe new one should be sufficiently ad- 
vanced for services to be held in it, the new cathedral 
was begun a little to the northward of the old one. 
The site of the first Christian church in the City of 
Mexico, therefore, is the open space (atrium) in front of 
the present cathedral. The more important dates in the 
history of the existing building are : 1573, corner-stone 
laid ; 1615, foundations and part of the walls completed ; 
1623, sacristy under roof ; 1626 first service held in 
sacristy — where services were held until 1641 ; 1629- 
1635, work stopped by the great inundation of that per- 
iod ; February 2, 1656, dedication — the interior of the 
building still being incomplete ; December 22, 1667, 
final dedication. Completion of the towers, 1791. Be- 
tween the years 1573 and 1667 the cost of the work was 
$17,52,000. With the cost of the towers ($190,000), of 
work upon the interior, of the bells (the great bell, alone 
costing $10,000) the entire cost of the work was about 
$2,000,000. The great bell, 19 feet high, in the western 
tower, is named Santa Maria de Guadalupe. It was 
placed in position in the year 1792. The larger of the 
bells in the eastern tower is named Doiia Maria. 

Exclusive of the very thick walls, the building meas- 
ures 387 feet from north to south ; 177 feet from east to 
west, and has an interior height of 179 feet. It is built 
of stone. The fa9ade, at the sides of which rise the 
towers, is divided by massive buttresses into three por- 
tals, which, in turn, are separated by cornices into two 
divisions — the first, Doric, very elegant by reason of its 
correct proportions ; the second, Ionic, confused and 
unsatisfactory. The basso-relievos, statues, friezes, bases 
and capitals are of white marble, making a harmonious 
color effect with the gray stone. The towers (203 ft. 6 



EELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 167 

in. liigli) are in two divisions, the lower Doric and the 
upper Ionic, this last finished with very beautiful archi- 
tectural details, and the crown of each is a bell-shaped 
dome capped by spheres and crosses of stone. The cor- 
nices of the towers, as well as the cornices elsewhere 
upon the building, are surmounted by balustrades of 
carved stone upon which, disposed at regular intervals, 
are carved stone vases. The cornices immediatelv be- 
neath the domes of the towers serve as pedestals for 
colossal stone statues of the Doctors of the Church and 
the Patriarchs of the Monastic Orders ; and those of the 
central portal, occupied by the clock, are pedestals for 
statues of the Theological Virtues with their attributes. 
Beneath the clock are blazoned the arms of the Republic 
— a modern innovation that emphasizes the controlhng 
attitude of the State toward the Church. Above the 
whole, as seen from the southern side of the Plaza, rises 
the dome, surmounted by its slender, graceful lantern, 
the work of the architect Tolsa. The architect of the 
work as a whole was Alonzo Perez Castaiieda. 

A garden, the beauty of which is by no means so great 
as to justify its existence, has been made in modern 
times from a portion of the atrium, thus reducing the 
actual atrium to miserable dimensions ; and the massive 
iron chains, swung upon 124 stone posts, which origin- 
ally inclosed the atrium (and remnants of which may be 
seen at the outer corners of the garden) have been re- 
placed by an unsightly railing of iron that cuts the lines 
of the building and so materially lessens the architectural 
effect. From the standpoint of the architect, also, the 
tree-planted Garden of the Zocalo, in the centre of the 
Plaza, is a great mistake — forcing the observer desirous 
of obtaining an unobstructed view of the front to come 



168 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

much closer to it than the requirements of good per- 
spective will allow. 

The interior of the cathedral, in the Doric style, with 
traces of the Gothic which marked the Spanish architec- 
ture of the sixteenth century, is almost severe in its sim- 
plicity. It is marred by its wooden floor, by its modern 
altars constructed in direct violation of the general de- 
sign, by the inartistic iron gratings which have replaced 
the beautifully carved wooden gratings inclosing the 
chapels, and by a general lack of suitable decoration ; 
further, the position of the choir (in accordance with the 
Spanish custom) in the middle of the nave greatly lessens 
what otherwise would be a very imposing and majestic 
interior effect. The aisles are divided from the nave by 
20 fluted columns which support the light and elegant 
vaulted roof. The central arches form a Latin cross, 
above which rises the fine dome. "Within the dome are 
paintings in tempera, representing the Assumption of the 
Virgin and groups of the principal characters of sacred 
history. Outside of the aisles are rows of chapels, seven 
on each side of the building. The main altar, erected in 
1850 after designs by Lorenzo Hidalga — a work that jars 
upon the prevailiug simplicity of design, and that is de- 
cidedly inferior to the structure that it replaced — is 
raised upon a pedestal of four stej^s to the height of the 
choir. A vast amount of money was S23ent ujjon this 
work — with very unsatisfactory results. The choir oc- 
cupies the space between the third and fifth pairs of 
columns of the nave. It is inclosed in front by a hand- 
some railing (of tumbago, a composite metal of gold, 
silver and copper) made in Macao — as were also the 
railings of the tribunal of the choir, of the passageway 
between the altar and the choir, and the pedestal 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 169 

of the altar. The stalls are richly carved in wood, and 
above them is to be observed a painting b}'- the Mexican 
artist Juan Correa : the Immaculate Concej^tion. Two 
organs, in carved cases, rise from the lateral tribunals to 
the height of the arches of the aisles. The finest altar 
in the cathedral is that of Los Reyes (the Kings), in 
the apse, rising from the pavement to the roof. Be- 
neath it lie buried the heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama 
and Jimenez, brought here with all honor froDi Guana- 
juato when Independence had been secured. The altar 
was executed by the same artist who carved the altar of 
Los Reyes in the Cathedral of Seville, and is richly carved 
and gilded in the churrigueresque style. Inclosed in 
its complicated details are many excellent statuettes, and 
some good paintings by the Mexican artist Juan Rodri- 
guez Juarez — the best of which are the " Epiphany " and 
"Assumption." The altar del perdon (of pardon), in the 
the rear of the choir, is in the same churrigueresque 
style, but is less rich. It has two fine paintings, the 
" Candelaria " of Baltasar de Echave, and a San Sebas- 
tian by (it is believed) the celebrated woman artist. La 
Sumaya. 

Chapels. — The more notable of these'are : (1) San Fe- 
lipje de Jesus, in which are some relics of this saint, 
Mexico's protomartyr ; and just outside the grating is 
the font in which he was baptized. Within the chapel 
are the remains, and a modest monument to the memory, 
of the unfortunate Agustin Yturbide, First Emperor of 
Mexico — whose well deserved, as well as more lasting 
and honorable title, here inscribed, is " The Liberator." 
(2) De las reliquias, contains twelve pictures of holy mar- 
tyrs by Juan de Herrera, called by his contemporaries (for 
a reason not apparent to his successors) " The Divine." 



170 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

(3) San Pedro, in which are the remains of the first Mex- 
ican Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga ; and, as is 
beheved, those also of the mysterious person the heato 
Gregorio Lopez — the Mexican "Man with an Iron Mask," 
popularly supposed to have been a son of Philip 11. 

The Sacristy is decorated with six great paintings 
which completely cover the walls : three — " The Glory 
of Saint Michael," "The Immaculate Conception," and 
" The Triumph of the Sacrament" — by Cristobal de Vill- 
alpando; and three — "The Assumption," "The Catho- 
lic Church," and "The Entry into Jerusalem " — by Juan 
Correa. In the Meeting-room of the Archicofradia are 
two fine pictures by Jose Alcibar, " The Last Supper " 
and " The Triumph of Faith," together wdth a very in- 
teresting collection of portraits of all the Archbishops of 
Mexico. In the Chapter-room are the three choicest 
paintings that the cathedral possesses : a picture by an 
unknown artist of the Itahan school representing Don 
John of Austria imploring the help of the Virgin at the 
Battle of Lepanto ; a Virgin, by Pietro de Cortona, and 
Murillo's " Virgin of Bethlehem." / 

CapHIa de las £inimas (Cliapel of the Souls). This 
little chapel, although a portion of the structure of the 
cathedral, has no connection with it. It faces upon the 
Calle de las Escalerillas, the street passing in the rear of 
the cathedral. Of its origin nothing is known save that 
it was there at the beginning of the last century, and that 
it has been there ever since. At the time that record of 
it first appears there was connected with it a fraternity, 
the especial object of which was to pray for the release 
of souls from Purgator}''. The priest then having it in 
charge was Don Cayetano Gil de la Concha, " a most 
saintly man," who died October 7, 1755, at the age of 



p 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 171 

eighty-seven years — leaving beliincl him a record (as yet 
unbroken) of having celebrated the mass in this chapel 
45,324 times ! The chapel was destroyed by lire March 
3, 1748, and was immediately rebuilt in its present 
form. Upon one of the altars is the image of Santa Eita 
de Casia, a saint in great favor among the lower classes 
of the city. 

Parish churches. Upon the site now occupied by the 
Sagrario was built, immediately after the Conquest, as is 
established by high non-partisan authorities, the first 
parish church in the City of Mexico. This church, it is 
believed, was administered by the priest Juan Diaz, chap- 
lain to Cortes, until the year 1523 ; after that date, as is 
established by an order of the Emperor Charles V., it was 
administered by the priest Pedro Villagran. As the Fran- 
ciscans came to the city about the midsummer of 1524, 
the claim (preferred by their eminent chronicler. Fray 
Agustin de Vetancurt, and by others) that they founded 
the first parish church is not tenable. The explanation 
of the rival claims to this honor seems to be that the 
church upon the site now occu]Died by the Sagrario was 
the first parish church of the Spaniards, and that the 
Franciscan foundation was the first parish church of the 
Indians — a distinction that for a long while was main- 
tained. 

It is certain that in the year 1524 Fray Pedro de Gante 
(see p. 20 et se^.) founded within the Franciscan establish- 
ment the church of San Jose de los Naturales (described 
by Vetancurt as " the first parish of the Indians ") that had 
parish charge of the Indians of the four grand divisions 
of the city ; and that almost contemporaneously he estab- 
Hshed in these four divisions four adjunct parish chapels, 
viz. : San Juan Bautista, in the southwest quarter called 



172 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Moyotla ; San Pablo, in the southeast quarter called 
Teopan ; San Sebastian, in the northeast quarter called 
Atzacualco ; and Nuestra Seiiora de la Asuncion (now 
known as Sta. Maria la Redonda) in the northwest quar- 
ter called Tlaquechiuhcan. Three of these foundations 
are still parish churches ; the fourth, San Juan Bautista 
(now known as San Juan de la Penitencia, which see) 
is not. As the city increased in size and in population 
these four primitive parish divisions were subdivided, and 
new churches were built, as occasion required. Finally 
the present partition of the city into fourteen parishes 
was made by Archbishop Lorenzana, March 3, 1772. The 
parish churches are the following fourteen : 

Sagrario R^etropolitano. This church, immediately 
adjoining the cathedral on the east, is, as is stated above, 
the first parish foundation of the city, and still remains 
the first parish church. It was founded, probably, in the 
3^ear 1521, being then dedicated to Santiago, the patron 
Saint of Spain. In the Escudo de Annas de Mexico it is 
written that Don Fernando Cortes gave orders to Juan 
Podriguez de Villafuerte to build a chapel for the hous- 
ing of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios (which see) ; and 
this was done — the chapel being at first known as the 
chapel of Santiago, and afterward as the chapel of the 
Pemedios. The present building of the Sagrario is of 
modern construction, dating from the middle of the last 
century — replacing the older church, destroj^ed by fire. 
The plans were presented by the architect Lorenzo Rod- 
riguez January 7, 1749, and, these being accepted, work 
was at once begun. The more important dates in the 
construction of the edifice are : Foundation laid, January 
7, 1749 ; main altar dedicated September 15, 1767 ; 
dedication of the church as a whole, January 9, 1768 ; 



EELTgToUS' FOUND ATIONST" 173 

completion of the interior decorations, 1770 ; dedication 
of the existing main altar, 1829 ; important repairs, fol- 
lowing the earthquake of June 19, 1858. 

This very elegant building, in the churrigueresque * 
style, directly adjoins the cathedral and communicates 
with it by mterior doors. The rich fayade and harnao- 
nious mass contrasts agreeably with the grander mass 
and severer style of the cathedral. So admirable is the 
work — in its elegance and purity of complicated filigree 
carved in stone — that it may be accepted as a standard 
of excellence by which to judge other i)i"oductions in 
this same curious but (when judiciously used) highly 
effective style. The general design is a Greek cross of 
symmetrical proportions, the relatively high vaulted roof 
being upheld by finely-carved stone pillars, in keeping 
"with which are the equally well-carved pilasters. The 
main altar is of wood, of harmonious proportions and 
decorated in excellent taste — among its decorations be- 
ing two good paintings after Dominichino. There are 
twelve minor altars, many of which have been reduced 
to a most unsatisfactory condition by modern reno- 
vation in very bad taste. Upon those which have been 
i^reserved intact are to be observed a number of paint- 
ings by leading Mexican artists. The pernicious tend- 
ency to paint and whitewash that has ruined a great 
many churches in Mexico has done much to mar the 
interior of this beautiful building. Fortunately, the 
baptistry has escaped from this vandal method of reno- 
vation. In it is a fine fresco by the master Jose Gines 
de AguuTe — the first professor sent from Spain to take 

* The liiglily ornate style of decoration notably practised by the 
Spanish architect and sculptor Churriguera about the end of the 
seventeenth century. 



174 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

charge of the Academy of San Carlos^ — representing the 
baptisms of Jesus, Constantine, Saint Augustine and San 
Felipe de Jesus. Here also is a fine picture of the Mu- 
rillo school : St. John the Baptist in the Desert. 

Capiila de la Soledad. In the year 1750, when the 
present Sagrario was in course of construction, there 
was placed between it and the cathedral a Uttle chapel 
that, according to tradition, first served as a baptistry. 
A pious person having placed within it an image of San 
Antonio, the chapel for a time was known by that name. 
Later, a pious woman having placed here an image of 
Nuestra Sefiora de la Soledad, it acquired its present 
name. 

San Pablo (X. 10). This parish church is not to be 
confounded with the closely adjacent chapel of San 
Pablo, now a part of the Hospital Juarez. Both, how- 
ever, come from the same foundation. Primitively there 
was here established, by Fray Pedro de Gante, an In- 
dian parish chapel, adjunct to the church of San Jose in 
San Francisco. This was administered by the Francis- 
cans until the year 1569 when, the adjunct parish hav- 
ing become an important one, it was erected into an in- 
dependent parish and was given into the control of the 
secular clergy. At this time, 1569, the first parish 
church was built. In the year 1575 the Augustinians 
petitioned the Archbishop, Sr. Don Pedro Moya de 
Contreras, to give them this church, with its accruing 
parish fees, that they might establish here a college ; 
and, although their request was not granted, they act- 
ually did take possession of the church (August 15, 1575) 
and built the college as they had planned. (See Hospi- 
tal Juarez.) In 1581 (probably) the parish church was 
founded upon its present site, immediately east of the 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 175 

Augustinian establishment. The existing church was 
completed at the beginning of the present century. 

San Sebastian (N. 8). Founded as a parish by 
Fray Pedro de Gante about the year 1524, the Church 
of San Sebastian was founded by Padre Juan Martinez, 
with a hospital adjoining it — of which the Hipolitos 
took charge. The parish was relinquished by the Fran- 
ciscans in 1585 (see Nuestra Seiiora del Carmen) to the 
Carmelites ; and these, in turn, relinquished it in 1607 
to the Augustinians ; and finally, in 1636, it passed into 
the control of the secular clergy. 

Santa Maria la Redonda (H. 9). About the year 
1524 was founded, writes the chronicler Fray Agustin de 
Vetancurt, in a suburb of the city called Tlaquechiuhcan 
(meaning w^here sleeping-mats are made) a chapel dedi- 
cated to the Assumption of Our Lady. Hither went on 
Sundays and holy days a monk from the church of San 
Jose to say the mass ; and every year on the Feast of 
the Assumption went out from this chapel a procession 
of its Indian worshippers who thus celebrated the day. 
One year it fell out that certain students who had gone 
thither to see the procession made light of it ; which so 
enraged the Indians that they mutinied against them. 
Therefore the Lord Archbishop ordered, under pain of 
excommunication, that neither students nor monks any 
more should go to see that procession. In the cha^^el 
was venerated an especially holy image, the making of 
which was miraculous ; for a pious Indian having begun 
to make it, and leaving it for a time, found upon his re- 
turn that his handiwork had been miraculously carried 
on. And by this image many miracles were wT.'Ought — 
most notable of which was the quenching of a certain 
fire, December 11, 1676, by which the first great church 



176 MEXICAl^ GUIDE. 

of San Agustin was consumed. (Doubtless the Augus- 
tinians regretted the fact that the image arrived too late 
at the scene of the conflagration to be of really practical 
service.) The parish continued to be administered by 
the Franciscans — the chronicler Vetancurt being at one 
time guardian of the little monastery connected with it 
— until June 26, 1753, when it passed into the control 
of the secular clergy. In this church was preserved, 
until its removal to the Museum, a fine early Mexican 
stone carving : a coiled feathered serpent, the emblem of 
the god Quetzal coatl. The stone, being inverted and 
hollowed out, was used as a font for holy water. 

Santa Vera Cruz (I. 4). The Conqueror, Don Fer- 
nando Cortes, founded in this church a Brotherhood of 
the True Cross, charged with the somewhat painful duty 
of comforting condemned criminals previous to their ex- 
ecution, and of giving burial to their bodies afterward. 
The statutes of this Brotherhood were approved, March 
30, 1527, by Fray Domingo de Betanzos, Vicar General 
of the Province. By a bull of January 13, 1573, per- 
mission was given that the Brotherhood should be 
united with the Brotherhood of the Santisimo Cristo 
de San Marcelo ; and by the same bull one hundred 
days of indulgence were granted to the faithful who, 
visiting the holy image (the crucifix) should see it un- 
veiled. The image was concealed in a shrine behind 
seven veils, whence comes the name by which it always 
has been known : El Seiior de los siete velos — " the 
Lord of the seven veils." In the " Almanaque Catolico 
e Historico para el ano 1885," the image is thus referred 
to: "January 2, Friday. Every Friday of the je^v 
plenary indulgence can be obtained by visiting the 
Santo Cristo venerated in the parochial church of the 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 177 

Santa Vera Cruz under the title of the Sefior de los siete 
velos, brought to Mexico by the Conquerors and greatly 
venerated since ancient times because of its pious tradi- 
tion." Although the church was founded immediately 
after the Conquest, the parish was not erected until the 
-year 1568. The existing church was built by the Brother- 
^hood and was dedicated October 14, 1730. "Unfortunate- 
ly (and to translate literally) it " suffered an interior re- 
form " during the curacy of Padre Jose Maria Aguirre ; 
and this, with similar sufferings in the year 1850, and in 
the spring of 1885 have destroyed completely its charm 
of quaint antiquity. 

Santa Cruz Aeatlan (W. 11). This is one of the 
primitive parish foundations of the city, having been 
established as an adjunct to the Indian parish church of 
San Jose in San Francisco. Beside it, in those early 
times, was a little convent. In March, 1772, it passed 
into the control of the secular clergy. The church con- 
tains three historic pictures. 

Santa Cruz y Soledad (P. 7). This church was 
founded (probably about the year 1534) as an Indian 
mission, and was in the charge of the Augustinians until 
it became a parish church and passed into the control of 
the secular clergy. The existing church was dedicated 
October 21, 1731 ; and was renovated in 1791. It is a 
large building, in the aisles of which are eight altars 
decorated by early Mexican artists of prominence. As 
the chui'ch is not well lighted the pictures cannot 
be seen to advantage. In the church is celebrated 
annually, June 4, the feast of Nuestra Senora del Refu- 
gio, of which a famous image is here preserved. Con- 
cerning this image Sefior Orozco y Berra writes : "The 
Calle del Refugio, formerly known as the Calle de Ace- 



178 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

quia, was called by its present name because of a large 
image of Nuestra Senora del Refugio that was there fas- 
tened to a wall. This was taken down in 1861." The 
image subsequently was placed in the church of San 
Lorenzo, whence, in 1883, it was brought to the church 
of Santa Cruz y Soledad, where an altar has been built 
for it under the choir. 

Santo Tomas la Palma (Z. 56). The church of La 
Palma was founded (probably before the year 1550) as 
an adjunct to that of Santa Cruz y Soledad, and also 
was in the charge of the Augustiuians. Being built 
upon the Plazuela de Santo Tomas, this name became 
entangled with its own and the two never have been 
separated. When the parish was secularized (probably 
in 1772) the existing church building was erected — at 
some little distance from its primitive site. The main 
altar possesses merit. The roof is curious, as being 
partly of wood and partly of stone vaulted. 

San Cos me (F. 14), Parish of San Antonio de las 
Huertas. The chapel of San Cosme y San Damian was 
an adjunct parish church (to the church of San Jose in 
San Francisco) from sometime in the year 1593 until 
May 7, 1667. Being then transformed into a casa de 
recoleccion (house of retreat for the strict observance of 
the most severe rules of a monastic order) the adminis- 
tration of the parish was transferred about three-quar- 
ters of a mile northwestward to the chapel of San Lazaro. 
Here the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Toledo, Marques de 
Mancera, had founded a village with the name of the 
Villa de Mancera, apportioning its lands among the In- 
dians — by whom were cultivated many kitchen gardens 
and orchards. Near to San Lazaro the Franciscans 
built for a parish church the little church of San Anto- 



I 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 179 

'nio de Padua, wherein was housed a miracle-working 
image of that Saint (" The image is miraculous, and 
there is of record an authentic miracle performed by it 

Ain the resuscitation of a child," writes the contemporary 
chronicler, Vetancurt) that still is preserved in the ex- 
isting church of San Cosme, where its titular function is 
celebrated annually on the 13th of June. The church 
of San Antonio being completed in the year 1670, the 
administration of the parish was removed thither from 
the chapel of San Lazaro. Adjoining the church was a 
very little monastery, in which dwelt two monks of the 
order of San Francisco who administered the parish 
under the authority of the cura of San Jose. And be- 
cause the church stood in the midst of orchards and 
gardens it came presently to be known, and with it the 
parish, as San Antonio de las huertas — which name sur- 
vives even until this day : so the by no means vaulting 
ambition of the Viceroy to perpetuate his name in that 
of this httle town came to naught. In March, 1772, the 
parish was rehnquished by the Franciscans into the 
hands of the secular clergy — the first priest being Dr. 
Cobos y Mugica — and finally, in November, 1862, to 
provide for the fortification of the Garita de Tlaxpana 
against the French, the church and the tiny monastery 
and the village were swept away. "When this destruc- 
tion was ordered, the administration of the parish was 
removed once again to San Cosme ; and there it has 
since remained. It was in the tower of this church of 
San Antonio, probably, that Lieutenant Grant mounted 
the howitzer that played so important a part in the 
attack upon San Cosme. 

The church of San Cosme, besides being upon a very 
old foundation, actually is one of the oldest buildings 



180 MEXICAIN" GUIDE. 

and one of the most interesting in the citj. Fray Juan de 
Zumarraga, first Archbishop of Mexico, established here 
(probably before the year 1540 ; he died June 3, 1548) 
a hospital for the care of wayfaring Indians ; and there- 
fore dedicated the chapel attached to it to the physician 
saints, Cosmo and Damian (" the holy Arabian doctors "). 
This institution, however, soon collapsed for want of 
funds for its support. In 1581 the deserted hospital 
was given to the Franciscanos descalzos (the barefooted 
order of Franciscans ; in Mexico known as Dieguinos, 
because their Province was dedicated to San Diego de 
Alcala), that they might establish here a hospice for the 
rest and refreshment of missionaries on their way from 
Spain to the Philippine Islands. In 1593, upon the com- 
pletion of the church and monastery of San Diego (which 
see) they abandoned the hospice ; when it passed to the 
possession of the Franciscans proper — becoming then, as 
above stated, an adjunct to the parish of San Jose, and 
so continuing during the ensuing seventy-three years. 
Fray Baltasar de Medina, the lovable and delightful 
chronicler of the Franciscanos descalzos, writes that in 
1593 the chapel and hospital were given to the Provincia 
del Santo Evangelio (of the regular order of Franciscans) 
for a casa de recoleccion ; which, however, was not estab- 
lished for many years. But from alms received for that 
purpose a small monastery and church were built im- 
mediately, being completed in the year 1600. This, and 
the previous foundations, were upon the north side of 
the existing aqueduct (built in the years 1603-20). 

The first erection upon the site occupied by the pres- 
ent church was begun early in the seventeenth century 
under the patronage of a pious gentleman, Don Agustin 
Guerrero, who gave there a field, and at whose charges 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 181 

building began. Bufc, unfortunately, in a little time this 
pious gentleman died, and for many years the new mon- 
astery remained incomplete. Tlie son of Don Agastiu 
having relinquished his claim to be patron, though con- 
tinuing the gift of ground, a new patron at last was 
found in the person of Captain Don Domingo de Canta- 
brana. This gentleman, being newly arrived in Mexico, 
was riding one evening on the Tacuba road when he 
was overtaken by a prodigious storm of rain. Knowing 
of no other place of shelter, he sought admittance to the 
little monastery of San Cosme, where he was received 
most hospitably by the monks ; was entertained with the 
best that their poverty afforded, and in the morning was 
set gladly upon his way. In return for this gracious 
charity he built for them, at a cost of 170,000, their long- 
delayed monastery and church. The corner-stone of 
the church, that now existing, was laid August 29, 1672, 
and the building was dedicated, January 13, 1675. The 
dedication was to Nuestra Seiiora de la Consolacion ; 
but the older name of San Cosme always has been re- 
tained. So great was the gentlemanliness (Jiidalguia) of 
the Sen or de Cantabrana, declares the chronicler, that 
in due le£>'al form he renounced for himself and his heirs 

o 

the title of patron that was his by right of his munifi- 
cence. His w^ork, he said, was "not for any temjDoral 
profit, but for the diffusion of divine religion and for the 
exaltation of the glorious patriarch San Jose ; " therefore 
he begged the Fathers to accept in his place the holy 
patriarch San Jose as their patron. In commemoration 
of this pious act the syndic of the monastery in the 
year 1762, the Sr. Dr. Mtro. Don Agustin de Quintela, 
caused to be painted a picture — now to be seen in the 
church — recording it in allegory. In the upper part of 



182 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the picture is represented San Jose, supported by a 
group of angels, and below a group of raonks with whom 
are three laymen. One of the laymen is Captain Don 
Domingo de Cantabrana in the act of relinquishing his 
title of patron to the patriarch ; another is the notary 
in the act of drawing the deed by which the patronage 
formally is surrendered to the Saint. Beneath the pic 
ture is a long inscription setting forth Don Domingo's 
meritorious action and telling by whom the memorial 
was made. This picture is not only interesting as a 
curious historic relic, but is very worthy of attention on 
purely artistic grounds ; for it is the work of the great 
Mexican artist, Don Jose de Alcibar. Just in front of 
the picture is the tomb — in very bad taste, but charac- 
teristic of the times — of the good Viceroy Don Juan de 
Acuna, Marques de Casafuerte, who died March 17, 
1734. In addition to the image of San Antonio, al- 
ready mentioned, there is another miraculous image in 
the church — that of Nuestra Seiiora de la Consolacion, 
to whom the church is dedicated. This is enclosed in 
the tabernacle of the main altar. The regard of the Vir- 
gin is fixed upon the ground at her feet, and her right 
arm is extended downward as though in the act of res- 
cuing some person from peril — thus commemorating the 
rescue by the image of a little girl from death by drown- 
ing in a well. As the miracle is chronicled by Vetancurt, 
together with a description of the image in its present 
position, the age of the figure is established as greater 
than two hundred years. 

The monastery of San Cosme was maintained as a 
casa de recoleccion until near the end of the year 1854, 
when the two monks then remaining on the foundation 
were removed (being received into the monastery of San 



RELIGIOUS FOUTSTDATIONS. 183 

Diego), and ifc was transformed into a military hospital. 
This institution was opened with much ceremony Feb- 
ruary 18, 1855 — the madriria (godmother) at its conse- 
cration being the Sefiora Doiia Dolores Tosta de Santa 
Ana, wife of General Santa Ana, then President — and 
was abandoned in 18G2. In 1862 the church became, 
provisionally, the administrative head of the parish of 
San Antonio de los huertas, and so continues. 

Santa Catarina Martir (L. 3). The primitive church 
upon this very ancient foundation, having fallen into 
decay, was demolished about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century, and upon its site the present church 
was built. The money required for its building was be- 
queathed by the pious Doiia Ysabel de la Barrera, wife 
of Simon de Haro — himself a notable benefactor in his 
day to many churches and religious establishments of 
the city. The church was dedicated January 22, 1662. 
The main chapel, the Preciosa sangre de Nuestro Seiior 
Jesucristo, was dedicated November 16, 1693. There 
are some curious altars. Previous to the sequestration 
of church property, this was one of the richest parishes 
in the city. This church, with that of San Miguel, has 
the right of sanctuary. 

Santa Ana (E. 6). The primitive foundation where 
the church of Santa Ana now stands was a chapel adjunct 
to the parish of Santiago Tlaltelolco, administered by the 
Franciscans. By the solicitation of this order, the pres- 
ent church was built, being dedicated March 16, 1754. 
No sooner was it completed, however, than it was claimed 
as an adjunct parish church by the secular clergy of the 
near-by church of Santa Catarina Martir. This claim 
was allowed, and they took possession February- 19, 1755. 
It w^as erected into an independent parish in 1770. In 



184 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

a room adjoining the sacristy is preserved a font in -wliicli, 
it is affirmed, was baptized the Indian Juan Diego, to 
whom the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared. 

Regina Coeli (T. 20). Parish of the Salto del Agua. 
This church and its adjoining convent (now the hospital 
Concepcion Beistigui) were built at the charges of the 
Concepcionistas in the year 1553. Both were rebuilt in 
1656. The present large church, erected mainly at the 
charges of Fray Jose Lanciego y Eguiluz, was dedicated 
September 13, 1731. The interior, profusely rich in 
colored and gilded wood-carving, is one of the quaintest 
and most beautiful church interiors in all Mexico. 

San Miguel (V. 2). The parish of San Miguel was 
established in the ancient church of San Lacas Evangel- 
ista (one of the primitive adjunct chapels to San Jose in 
San Francisco) January 21, 1690, whence it was removed 
to the present church October 17, 1692. The building 
seems to have been incomplete at this time, as it was 
thereafter much enlarged, and was dedicated to San Mi- 
guel in the year 1714. The main chapel is dedicated to 
Maria Santisima del pilar de Zaragoza, who is an adjunct 
patron of the parish. In this chapel the butchers of the 
city hold annually, on October 18th, a solemn service to 
this their patron saint. This church, with that of Santa 
Catarina Martir, has the right of sanctuary. The build- 
ing was renovated in the year 1850. The doors have 
quaint carvings in wood. 

San Jose (T. 5.) The existing parish is not to be 
confounded with the primitive parish of the same name, 
although the existing parish is an offshoot from, and so 
in some sort a lineal successor of the primitive one. 

A little way southeastward of where the church of San 
Francisco now stands, there was built by Fray Pedro 




RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 185 

de Gante, about the year 1524, a church consecrated by 
the name of San Jose de los Naturales. This, as has 
been mentioned, was the primitive parish church of the 
Indians, as the Sagrario was the primitive parish church 
of the Spaniards. The several adjunct parish chajDels 
for the Indians were adjunct to the church of San Jos6 
in San Francisco. This church was demolished, in whole 
or in part, in the year 1769, in order to make place for 
the building of the cliurch of the Seiior de Burgos. The 
only connection between the existing parish church of 
San Jose and this primitive foundation is that they have 
the same name ; and that, as stated above, the parish 
probably was founded in one of the numerous chapels 
for the Indians which Fray Pedro de Gante caused to be 
built — in addition to the four principal ones (see intro- 
duction to parish churches and also San Francisco) that 
he founded in the four quarters of the city. 

The existing church was begun by the exertions of Sr. 
Lie. Don Diego Alvarez, who was parish priest at the 
beginning of the present century. The interior formerly 
was adorned by some very interesting frescoes, the work 
of Sr. Alvarez. These were in chiar-oscuro, picked out 
with gold, and represented, upon alternate panels, scenes 
from the life of the patriarch San Jose and from the his- 
tory of the conquest of Mexico. The unpardonable van- 
dalism has been committed of painting over this most 
curious work. By the earthquake of July 19, 1858, the 

(church was so much injured as to require repau's that 
almost amounted to reconstruction. At this time there 
were brought to it some portions of the altars and of the 
church furniture of the church of San Francisco, then 
being dismantled. The repairs being completed, it was 
once more dedicated, June 20, 1861. It contains the 



k 



186 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

noticeable chapels of Nuestra Sauora de la Luz and tlie 
Purisima. 

The Religious Orders in Mexico. A brief refer- 
ence to the history of the religious orders in Mexico is 
indispensable to a good understanding of the history of 
the city itseli As they severally came to the Spanish 
colony, churches, monasteries, convents, hospitals, were 
built, and in the City of Mexico their work survives 
everywhere : visibly in the buildings which they erected 
and in the street nomenclature, and morally in the im- 
press that they have left upon the life of the nation. 
Their suppression, on the other hand, brought in its 
train the absolute destruction, or the deflection to secu- 
lar purposes, of many of their foundations, and the ac- 
quisition by the State of all that remained ; while the 
opening of new streets through what had been church 
property, and the names which these streets received — 
as the Calles Independencia, Cinco de Mayo, and Lerdo 
— mark, in a very striking manner, the end of the old 
and the begiDning of the new order of things. 

To the Franciscans in great part belongs the honor of 
having fixed firmly in Mexico the power of Spain ; for 
their zealous missionary work among the Indians, and 
the hold that they had upon their Indian converts, most 
powerfully strengthened the position that the Spaniards 
conquered and in part sustained by military power. To 
the Dominicans, in some small part, at least, is due the 
collapse of the Spanish domination ; for the feeling 
against the Inquisition unquestionably had much to do 
with fixing many waverers on the side of Independence. 
To the several orders of hospitallers was due the estab- 
lishment of (for the times) admirably appointed and 
zealously administered hospitals in every city of the col- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 187 

ony. To the Jesuits belong the honor of having- fos- 
tered learning* in this new laud. Broadly speaking, the 
influence of the religious orders upon the colony was 
beneficial during its first century ; neutral during its 
second ; harmful during its third. In this last epoch so 
considerable a portion of the wealth of the colony had 
come into possession of the Church that the locking up 
of capital blocked the channels of trade. Leaving all 
other questions out of consideration, the suppression of 
the religious orders was an economic necessity in Mexico 
for many years before there was found, in the person of 
Juarez, a statesman bold enough and strong enough to 
institute so radical a reform. 

That the Keform was executed with a certain brutal 
severity is less discreditable to Mexicans in particular 
than to humanity at large. When evil social conditions, 
long-fostered, at last are broken down, the radical ele- 
ment in the body-politic that asserts the right never 
fails to commit on its own account a very liberal amount 
of wrong. Yet all unprejudiced travellers in Mexico can- 
not but keenly deplore, because of the violence done to 
art and learning, to the romantic and to the picturesque, 
that in the course of the Reformation so much of value 
to learning and art perished, and that so many buildings 
deeply interesting because of their historic or romantic 
associations, or in themselves picturesque, were diverted 
utterly from their primitive purposes or utterly de- 
stroyed. 

In point of fact, many of the religious orders in Mex- 
ico disappeared before the laws of the Reform were pro- 
mulgated. The Jesuits were suppressed June 25, 1767 ; 
?e-established in 181 G ; again suppressed in 1821 ; again 
re-established in 1853 ; and finally expelled from the 



188 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

country in 1856. The Antoninos were suppressed by a 
bull of Pius VI. of August 24, 1787. By a decree of the 
Spanish Cortes of October 1, 1820 (following the re- 
erection of the Constitution of 1812), executed in Mexico 
in 1821, the following named orders were suppressed : 
Agustinos recoletos, Hipolitos, Juaninos, Betlemitas, 
and Benedictinos. The Cosmistas (Franciscanos rec- 
coletos) having dwindled to but a few members, were 
absorbed into the Franciscanos in 1854. 

All of the remaining orders were extinguished by the 
law of July 12, 1859, given in Vera Cruz under the 
Presidency of Juarez. Actually, however, this law did not 
become operative in the City of Mexico until December 
27, 1860, upon the entry into the capital of the Liberal 
forces. Although the law provided only for the extinction 
of the monasteries, the partial suppression of the convents 
began almost immediately. At midnight of February 
13, 1861, at a preconcerted signal (the tolling of the bell 
of the church of Corpus Christi) the nuns were removed 
from twelve convents to the ten convents remaining;' for 
the time being undisturbed. The law of February 26, 
1863, declared the suppression of the female religious 
establishments (excepting that of the Sisters of Charity) ; 
and required the several convents to be vacated within 
eight days. In a few cases slight extensions of time 
were granted, but the actual suppression of the orders 
dates from March 6, 1863. Finally, the Laws of the 
lieform being incorporated into the Federal Constitution 
(December 14, 1874), the last remaining religious order, 
that of the Sisters of Charity, was suppressed. 

San Frars Cisco (K. 1). The history of this founda- 
tion almost may be said to be the history of Mexico, 
for contained in it, or linked with it, is almost every 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 189 

event of importance in the colonial or national life. 
From this centre radiated the commanding influence of 
the Franciscan order — the strong power that kept what 
was won by military force, and that by its own peaceful 
methods greatly extended the territorial limits of New 
Spain. Here masses were heard by Cortes, and here 
for a time his bones were laid. Here, through three 
centuries, the great festivals of the Church were taken 
part in by the Spanish Viceroys. Here was sung the 
first Te Deum in celebration of Mexican Independence, 
the most conspicuous man in the rejoicing assemblage 
being General Agustin Yturbide — by whom, virtually, 
Mexican Independence was won ; and here, seventeen 
years later, were held the magnificent funeral services 
when Yturbide — his Imperial error forgiven and his 
claim to the title of Liberator alone remembered — was 
buried. Around no other building in Mexico cluster 
such associations as are gathered here. And even now, 
when the great monastic establishment has been swept 
away, and the church itself has become a Protestant 
cathedral, the very wreck of it all serves to mark, in the 
most striking and dramatic wa}^, the latest and most radi- 
cal phase of development of the nation's life. 

The Franciscan order — founded by Saint Francis of 
Assisi in the year 1208, approved by Innocent IH. in 
1215, and confirmed by Honorius HI. in 1223 — was es- 
tabhshed in New Spain wdthin three years after the Con- 
quest. The twelve founders, usually styled the Twelve 
Apostles of Mexico, were from the Franciscan Province 
of San Gabriel in Sixain. Their leader was the Superior 
of the Province, Fray Martin de Valencia, " the Father 
of the Mexican Church" — identical with the zealous Fray 
Martin de Boil, told of by the chronicler Medina, ''who 



190 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

with his own hands reduced no less than 170,000 Pagan 
idols to dust ! " Of the missionaries were also two other 
men afterward very prominent in Mexico : Fray Toribio 
de Benevente, the eminent chronicler, better known by 
the name of Motolinia (meaning poor, miserable) ; that, 
being applied to him in derision by the Indians, he glad- 
ly adopted in his humility as the name best befitting his 
deserts ; and Fray Francisco Ximenez, author of the 
first grammar of the Mexican tongue. And all of the 
twelve were very godly, and earnest in the good work to 
which they had devoted their lives. The little company 
sailed from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, Jan- 
uary 25, 1524, and — after stopping at various towns in 
the West Indies — came safely to land at San Juan de 
Ulua on the 23d of May of the same year. From the 
coast they walked to the capital ; and by the way, in 
Texcoco — where he had been for a twelvemonth en- 
gaged in missionary work — they were joined by Fray 
Pedro de Gante,* who walked on with them to Mexico. 

* Fraj Pedro de Gante (Ghent) was a native of Flanders, and 
entered the Franciscan Order, it is believed, in the Monastery of 
Ghent. He was one of the five missionaries to the Indians who 
came to Mexico in 1523 ; and of all the missionaries who came 
thither he was the most able and the most zealous. The holiness 
and usefulness of his life, and his Flanders birth, especially en- 
deared and commended him to the Emperor Charles V., and from 
this patron he received very large sums of money and extensive 
grants of land to aid him in carrying on his mission works. The 
marked favor of the Emperor gave rise, in later times, to the asser- 
tion that the monk was the Emperor's natural son — a fiction that 
is effectively disposed of by these facts : Charles V. was born in 
the year 1500. Fray Pedro de Gante came to Mexico, already a 
professed monk, in the year 1523. Consequently, he must have 
been born some years before the birth of his alleged father. 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 101 

And all of these iliirteen came into the city on the 23d of 
June, in the year 1521. 

In 1531 the mission was erected into the Province of 
the Santo Evangelio (confirmed by a bull issued by 
Clement XL in the ensuing year), and from this province 
have come out successively five other provinces of the 
Order : San Jose de Yucatan, 1559 ; Santo Nombre de 
Jesus de Guatemala, 1565 ; San Pedro y San Pablo de 
Michoacan, 1565 ; Santiago de Jalisco, 1606 ; Nuestro 
Padi'e San Francisco de Zacatecas, 1606. 

For a little while after their arrival in Mexico the 
Franciscans were domiciled in a shelter upon or near the 
site of the present church of Santa Teresa la Antigua. 
From this they removed to their permanent abiding 
place — the lands where formerly had been the garden 
and wild-beast house of the kings of Tenochtitlan. 
Funds for the building of the first church were provided 
by Cortes, and the material employed in its construction 
was the hewn-stone from the steps of the great Teocalli. 
The church soon was finished, as was also the chapel of 
San Jose de los Naturales, the parish church for the 
Indians that Fray Pedro de Gante organized immediately 
upon his arrival ; and from this centre missionaries went 
out everywhere over the land, and far away into the re- 
gions of the North. Being gentle and good and thor- 
oughly in earnest, these first missionaries made many 
converts ; and by the hold that they thus acquired over 
the Indians were able greatly to strengthen the hands 
of the viceroyal government in its administration of 
affairs. 

As years went on and the Order increased in numbers 
and in wealth — ingenious systems of trusts effectively 
cu'cumventing the vow of poverty — the primitive mon- 



192 MEXICAN" GUIDE. 

astery was enlarged from time to time until it came to 
be of a prodigious size ; new chapels were built about 
the church ; the church itself was rebuilt upon a scale 
of great magnificence, and more and more land in the 
Yiciuity of the monastery was secured. This process of 
accretion continued for nearly three full centuries, and 
no diminution of the great estate was suffered for a 
round three hundred and thirty years. About the year 
1811 the property held by the Order in the vicinity of 
the monastery, until then broken by lanes and alley- 
ViSijB into three parcels, was united in a single plot by 
an inclosing wall. The boundaries of this inclosure 
were : to the south, the Calle de Zuleta ; to the west, 
the Calle de San Juan de Letran ; to the east, the Calle s 
Coliseo and Colegio de las Ninas, and to the north the 
first Calle de San Francisco. Upon the southeast cor- 
ner of the tract was a small reservation belonging to the 
Colegio de las Ninas. Li the southern half of this estate 
were the gardens — the present garden of San Francisco 
— upon which opened the infirmary and the lodging- 
rooms of the commissioners-general ; the cemetery ; the 
great refector}'', in which was room for five hundred 
brothers to sit together at meat ; the princij)al cloister 
and a smaller cloister ; the sala de profundis ; the sac- 
risty, and the ante-sacrist}'. In the northern half were 
the several chapels and the main church, standing in the 
great atrium. This general inclosure had two entrances : 
the one to the north, now existing, on the first Calle de 
San Francisco ; the other, the main entrance, to the 
west, on the Calle de San Juan de Letran. 

The main Church. The existing church, dedicated De- 
cember 8, 1716, though bereft of its stately surroundings, 
with its main entrance closed by a row of houses, with 



I 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 193 

its tower demolished, and with all its interior splendor 
departed, still maintains its rank as one of the most noble 
and impressive buildings in Mexico. Its plan is a single 
great nave, with apse and transepts, lighted by a row of 
windows between the cornice and the spring of the 
vaulted roof, and by three domes — the main dome rising 
to a height of 90 feet and supporting a lantern 24 feet 
high. The nave is 56 feet wide and, with the apse, 230 
feet long. In its present condition the church is bare 
and cold. Architecturally, it requires lavish decoration — 
gilding, color, great pictures — to relieve its vast expanses 
of windowless walls. Before the time of the Reform, of 
course, this requirement was fulfilled. Thirty years ago 
its interior decoration was in keeping with its majestic 
proportions and stately grace. For nearly a century and 
a half great sums of money were expended in making it 
more and more beautiful — the silver tabernacle of the 
high altar alone cost $24,000 — and the result was a rich- 
ness and splendor unsurpassed in Mexico. The main 
entrance, now closed, was from the west, through a richly 
ornamented fa9ade, surmounted on its southern side by a 
small bell-tower. The side entrance, as at present exist- 
ing, was through the chapel of Nuestra Seiiora de la Bal- 
vanera (which chapel was built at the charges of certain 
pious natives of Eioja). The doorway through which the 
chapel is entered — and, through the chapel, the church, 
is a very elegant specimen of the churrigueresque style : 
especially commendable because of its freedom from the 
overloading into which this style almost inevitably leads. 
From the church access was had to the beautiful chapel 
of the Pui'isima Concepcion (built in 1629 at the charges 
of Don Cristobal Zuleta, from whom the name of the Calle 
de Zuleta is derived), and of San Antonio, built ten years 



194 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

later. Some traces of the walls of these chapels still may 
be discerned on the north side of the church. 

The complete group of churches, famous throughout 
Mexico as the seven churches of San Francisco, consisted 
of those which have been named and the following : 
El Senor de Burgos, and the little chapel of Dolores, 
otherwise known as the Segunda Estacion, both close to 
the Calle de San Juan de Letran and facing each other 
from opposite sides of the main entrance to the great 
church ; the Tercer Orden and Nuestra Senora de Aran- 
zazu, both upon the first Calle de San Francisco and fac- 
ing each other from opposite sides of the entrance f i*om 
that street ; and the famous chapel of San Jose de los 
Naturales, southeast of the great church, and upon or 
just east of the present Calle de Gante. 

El Senor de Burgos. — Upon the site afterward occupied 
by this church there stood in primitive times the parish 
church of San Jose de los Espauoles — built for the use of 
the Spaniards, as the other parish church of San Jose was 
built for the use of the Indians. Both w^ere demolished 
in the same year, 1769. The church of Nuestro Senor de 
Burgos was immediately erected upon the vacated site, 
and was dedicated February 6, 1780. Although not very 
large — 98 x 40 feet — it was the most splendid of all the 
outlying churches of the Franciscan establishment, being 
especially noted for the paintings upon its walls, by the 
Mexican artist Echave, illustrating the life of San Jose. 

Tercer Orden. — This chapel, dedicated November 8, 
1727, stood just west of the side entrance to the great 
church — the only entrance now remaining. It has been 
in part destroyed, and what is left of it has been ab- 
sorbed into the walls of houses fronting on the first Calle 
de San Francisco. A portion of its eastern wall still may 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 195 

be seen, upon which may be deciphered an inscription 
telling that for a period of forty years from July 10, 
1831, this church was authorized to be joined with the 
church of the Lateran in Rome. The Laws of the Reform 
diminished the privilege by very nearly a decade, for the 
destruction of the chapel took place in 1862. The Ter- 
cer Orden (founded in Mexico October 20, 1615), a third, 
and lay, order of Franciscans, was very popular and (in 
a proper and serious way, of course) very fashionable. It 
was the correct thing for people of high station to join 
it ; but while this custom was fashionable it was anything 
but a fashionable folly. The order was philanthropic in 
its purposes, and in its time accomplished many good 
works. The most notable of these was the founding of 
the Hospital de Terceros — the great building, at the cor- 
ner of the Calles Santa Isabel and San Andres, now occu- 
pied by the Escuela de Comercio, the Sociedad Geogra- 
fia y Estadistica, and a primary school. This hospital 
was opened in June, 1756, and for a hundred years fol- 
lowing was an excellent and well managed charity. 

Nuestra Senora de Aranzaz'd. — Excepting the Balvan- 
era (now a part of the Protestant cathedral) this is the 
only surviving chapel of the San Francisco group. For 
upwards of twenty years it has been closed and dis- 
mantled, but it now is in course of rehabilitation and is 
to be reopened as the church of San Felipe de Jesus. 
The corner-stone of this building was laid March 25, 
1683, and it was dedicated December 18, 1688. Al- 
though shorn of its interior splendors the church still 
retains its beautiful, and curious, western front — facing 
upon the church-yard of San Francisco. This is a very 

(rich work ornamented with figures in relief. The prin- 
cipal group represents a shepherd, surrounded by his 



196 MEXICAK GUIDE. 

flock, seated at the foot of a tree in the branches of 
which the Virgin is seen in a vision. On the frieze that 
follows the architrave of the doorway is the inscrip- 
tion : Sacro Sancta Lateranensis eccleda. Below the 
alto-relievo of the tree and Virgin and shepherd is in- 
scribed in Spanish : " Chapel of the Miraculous Image 
of Our Lady of Axanzazii, and burial place of the sons 
and natives of the three provinces of Biscay and the 
Kingdom of Navarre ; of their wives, sons, and descend- 
ants, at whose \sic\ expense it was built and dedicated 
in the year 1688." Near the top of the fa9ade is the in- 
scription : Tu honorificentia populi nostri. 

San Jose de los Naturales. — This chapel, occupying a 
site a short distance southeastward of the great church — 
either upon the line of the Calle de Gante or just east of 
it — was built by Fray Pedro de Gante about the year 
1524. As has been mentioned it was the first parish 
church of the Indians, as the Sagrario (which see) was 
the first parish church of the Spaniards. The many 
parish churches for the Indians thereafter established 
by Fray Pedro de Gante were adjunct to this church of 
San Jose in San Francisco. The building itself was a 
great arcade, or shed, its vaulted roof upheld by stone 
pillars, and stone pillars taking the place of walls ; being 
thus constructed that not only might a great number of 
Indians be assembled under its roof, but that several 
thousands more clustered around it might see and take 
part in its services. Cathedral privileges were conceded 
to this church by Charles V. and Philip II. ; and in it the 
first Mexican Council was held. It was demolished in 
1769. Upon its site was erected the church of Los Servi- 
tas, dedicated November 12, 1791. This last was de- 
molished when the Calle de Gante was opened, in 1862. 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 197 

The first assault upon the integrity of the Franciscan 
establishment was struck by President Comonfort in 
1856. Positive information reached him upon the 14th 
of September of that year that a conspiracy, having its 
origin in this monaster}^, had been formed for the over- 
throw of the existing government and the establishment 
of a government in harmony with the views of the ultra 
clerical party. The revolution was to begin on the 16th 
of September — the great national holiday commemorat- 
ing the declaration of Independence. Comonfort acted 
with his customary energy. On the morning of the 15th 
the monastery was taken possession of by Federal troops, 
and the entire community of monks placed under ar- 
rest ; on the 16th a decree was promulgated ordering 
the opening of a new street, to be called Independencia, 
directly across the middle of the monastery inclosure 
from east to west ; and on the 18th another decree was 
promulgated in which the treasonable acts of the mem- 
bers of the Order were recited and, in punishment of 
this treason, the monastery was declared suppressed and 
its property forfeited to the State. Satisfied, however, 
with having proved the supremacy of the civil to the re- 
ligious power, Comonfort annulled the decree of sup - 
pression by a decree of February 19, 1857, that per- 
mitted the re-establishment of the monastery. But the 
decree did not restore the commanding moral standing 
of the Order lost through its temporary suppression ; 
any more than it restored the real estate sacrificed to 
make way for the new street that in the interval had 
been opened. It was this bold act of Comonfort's that 
made possible the bolder act by which Juarez, four years 
later, extinguished all the religious orders at a blow — 
the general catastrophe in which the great Franciscan 



198 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

establishment found its end. On the 27th of December 
1860, the army of Juarez entered the city, and imme- 
diately made operative and effective the decree of July 
12, 1859. The monastery of San Francisco was closed 
at once ; early in 1861 the jewels and pictures were re- 
moved from the church — the latter going to the Academy 
of San Carlos ; the altars were destroyed ; the bells were 
taken from the tower, and, a little later, the construction 
was begun of the houses upon San Juan de Letran by 
which the fagade was hidden and the main entrance 
closed. In the following AjDril a street was cut through 
the property from north to south, crossing or passing 
very near to the site of the first chapel of the Indians : and 
in the name given to this street, Gante, is preserved a 
memorial of the good work here wrought by the purest 
and noblest Franciscan ever known in New Spain. 

In 1869 the great church, together with the chapel of 
the Balvanera, passed by purchase to the Church of 
Jesus in Mexico (see Protestantism). Much of the ancient 
property of the monastery, while diverted to new pur- 
poses, still may be identified. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church of the Trinity (K. 68) has been ingeniously 
constructed by roofing over what was the large inner 
patio. Adjoining this building on the north, one of 
the old chapels, now Christ Church, is used for the ser- 
vices of the Church of England. On the streets of In- 
dependencia and San Juan de Letran, portions of the 
monastery buildings have been incorporated into dwell- 
ing-houses. The new hotel, south and west of the Jar- 
din de San Francisco, occupies the former dwelling-place 
of the commissioners-general of ihe order, the old in- 
firmary, and the chapel of San Antonio. The stable east 
of the garden was the refectory. 



KELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 199 

Santiago TIalteloIco (D. 42). 'By a ro3'al order of 
Charles Y.; given at Barcelona May 1, 1543, the present 
*' domed church " was erected. Nineteen years earlier, 
the Franciscans had estabhshed here a chapel — one of 
the numerous foundations of Fray Pedro de Gante — 
together with a school. This foundation was materially 
enlarged b}' the patronage of the first Viceroy, Don An- 
tonio de Mendoza, who established here the celebrated 
College of Santa Cruz for the Indians, with a liberal en- 
dowment of landed estate. The college was opened in 
1537 with an attendance of more than one hundred In- 
dian pupils, who were taught (possibly somewhat more 
to their amazement than to their edification) Latin, logic, 
and philosophy. The college justified its existence, how- 
ever, for among its Indian graduates w^ere several nota- 
ble men who have left their impress upon Mexican lit- 
erature. But as a race it is probable that the Indians 
gave no very adequate return for their training in Latin, 
logic, and philosophy, for the college declined, and 
finally, about the year 1578, expired. Twice it was re- 
vived — once as the College of San Buenaventura and San 
Juan Capistrano, in the year 1667, to expire early in the 
ensuing century ; and again under its original title of 
Santa Cruz, in 1728, to expire finally in 1811. Since 
this latter date the convent and college buildings have 
been used for a variety of secular purposes. There is 
now established here a military prison. Upon the 
secularization of the Church several pictures and some 
curious ancient images, including a life-size equestrian 
figure of Santiago, were removed to the church of Santa 
Maria de los Angeles, and the font in which Juan Diego 
was baptized was placed in the baptistry of Santa Ana. 
(See Aduana.) 



200 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Santo Domingo (L. 15). The Dominican Order, 
founded in Tolosa, Spain, by Santo Domingo de Guz- 
man, was approved by Pope Honorius m. in the year 
1223. The Mexican missionary monks of this order 
came from the Province of Santa Cruz de la Isla Es- 
panola, in Spain, and arrived in Mexico June 23, 1526. 
Under the mutual rule of the orders of Dominicans and 
Franciscans, they were sheltered in the monastery of 
San Francisco until their own temporary monastery was 
completed for their reception, in October of the same year. 
This first building was on the site of the present College 
of Medicine.- From it they removed in 1530 to the mon- 
astery (now almost wholly demolished) that was built 
on land adjoining the present church on the west. By 
the buUs of Clement VH. of July 2, 1532, and March 8, 
1533, the Dominicans of Mexico were erected into an 
independent province under the name of the Provincia 
de Santiago de Mexico, Orden de Predicadores. The 
first church was completed in 1575. This, and the ad- 
joining monastery, were destroyed by inundation in 
1716. The present church was dedicated in August, 
1736. In order to open the street on the western side 
of the church, in April, 1861 (after the secularization of 
the property by the Laws of the Reform) not only was 
destroyed the greater portion of the monastery, but also 
the fine chapel of the Tercer Orden. What remained of 
the monastery was sold to private individuals. The 
chapel of the Rosary (capilla del rosario), the most beau- 
tiful chapel annexed to the church, was entirely destroyed 
when the street through the monastery was opened. The 
church is one of the largest in the city, and, by reason of 
its noble proportions, one of the most impressive. It 
contains some very good pictures — notably the Crucifix- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 201 

ion and San Yldefonso, in the sacristy ; a number of 
richly carved altars, with others, of later date, less satis- 
factory in their decoration. 

Gapilla de la Esperacion. This little chapel, on the 
west side of the Plazuela de Santo Domingo, is a de- 
pendency of the church. Its interior is not especially 
interesting. 

Porta Coeli (M. 41). This Dominican foundation, of 
August 18, 1603, was at first a college only. As such it 
was approved by the General Chapter of the order at 
Valladolid, in Spain, in 1605. The college was sup- 
pressed in 1860, but the curious little church still re- 
mains. On its front is the quaint Biblical inscription : 
Terribiles est locus iste Domus Dei, et Porta Coeli. 

The inquisition (L. 98). As early as 1527 the influ- 
ence of the Spanish Inquisition was perceptible in New 
Spain in the promulgation of a royal order in that year 
by which all Jews and Moors were banished from the 
Province. About the year 1529 a council was held in 
the City of Mexico composed of the most notable men, 
religious, military, and civil, then in the Province — in- 
cluding Bishop Fuenleal, who was President of the Au- 
dencia, together with all the members of that body ; the 
Bishop of Mexico (Zumarraga) ; the heads of the Domini- 
can and Franciscan orders ; the municipal authorities 
and two prominent citizens. As the result of its delibera- 
tions, this council solemnly declared : "It is most neces- 
sary that the Holy Office of the Inquisition shall be ex- 
tended to this land, because of the commerce with stran- 
gers here carried on, and because of the many corsairs 
abounding upon our coasts, which strangers may bring 
their evil customs among both natives and Castillians, 
who by the grace of God should be kept free from 



202 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

heresy." Following this declaration several function- 
aries charged with inquisitorial powers visited the Prov- 
ince during the ensuing forty years, suitably discharging 
the duties of their office by keeping heresy and crimes 
acfainst the canon law well trodden under foot. The 
full fruit of the declaration of the council ripened in 
1570, when, under date of August 16, a royal order issued 
appointing Don Pedro Moya de Contreras (afterward 
Archbishop, and some time Viceroy of the Province) 
Inquisitor General of New Spain, Guatemala, and the 
Philippine Islands, with headquarters in the City of 
Mexico. The chronicler Vetancurt writes with pious 
joy : " The tribunal of the Inquisition, the strong fort 
and mount of Zion, was founded in the City of Mexico 
in the year 1571 ; " and later he adds : " They have cele- 
brated general and particular autos de lafe with great 
concourse of dignitaries, and in all cases the Catholic 
faith and its truth have remained victorious." The fact 
should be noted that the royal order under which the 
Inquisition was established in Mexico expressly ex- 
empted the Indians from its jurisdiction ; a politic ar- 
rangement that gave it from the outset a strong popular 
support. For the accommodation of the Holy Office the 
small monastery at first occupied by the Dominicans 
was placed at the disposition of the Inquisitor General. 
This presently was rebuilt, to make it more in keeping 
with the dignity and the needs of the business carried on 
in it, but no record of the structure then erected remains. 
The existing building, now the property of the Escuela 
de Medicina, was begun December 5, 1732, and was 
completed in December, 1736. The hrasero (brazier), or 
quemadero (burning-place), whereon the decrees of the 
Holy Office were executed, was a short distance east- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 203 

ward of the church of San Diego, upon land since in- 
ckided in the Alameda.* It was a square platform, with 
wall and terrace arranged for the erection of stakes to 
which the condemned, living or dead, were fastened to 
be burned. Being raised in a large open space, the 
si3ectacle could be witnessed by the entire population of 
the city. When the ceremony was ended, the ashes of 
the burned were thrown into the marsh that then w^as in 
the rear of the church of San Diego. Fray Vetancurt, 
describing the pleasing outlook from the door of San 
Diego, writes : " The view is beautified by^the Plaza of 
San Hij)61ito and by the burning place of the Holy 
Office." As in Spain, so also in Mexico, the Dominican 
order and the Inquisition were closely associated, 
though nominally they were independent organizations. "j* 
The first auto def'3 % in New Spain was celebrated in 

* There was another brasero in the plazuela of San Lazaro that 
served for the burning of criminals whose crimes did not come 
within the jurisdiction of the Holy Office. The principal crimes 
of which the Holy Office took cognizance were : heresy, sorcery, 
witchcraft, polygamy, seduction, unnatural crime, imposture and 
personation. The extreme penalty, death by burning, was visited 
only upon criminals of the first order, as heretics or sorcerers. 
In the majority of cases the criminal was strangled before being 
burned. 

f "St. Dominick is said to have first proposed the erection of 
such a tribunal to Innocent III., and to have been appointed by 
him the first inquisitor. . . The majority of inquisitors em- 
ployed have always been Dominicans, and the commissary of the 
Holy Office at Eome belongs, ex officio, to this order."' — Catholic 
Dictionary, article "Inquisition." 

I The auto defe^ or act of the [profession of the] faith, was the 
public ceremony that followed the secret trial of criminals brought 
before the Inquisition. The ceremony began by the avowal by 
the members of the tribunal, and by all assembled with them, of 



204 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the year 1574 : as its result, as is mentioned with much 
satisfaction by the chronicler Fray Baltasar de Medina, 
there perished " twenty-one pestilent Lutherans." From 
this time onward, until the Inquisition was suppressed, 
these edifying ceremonies were of very frequent occur- 
rence, sometimes taking place annually (as in 1646-47- 
48-49) for several years in succession. Frequent though 
they certainly were, and large though the number of 
those who perished in them undoubtedly was, the num- 
ber of those actually burned to death was comparatively 
small. In the majority of cases, even when the body of 
the offender was burned, grace was shown in first grant- 
ing death by strangulation. Thus, in the memorable 
auto de fe, of April 10, 1649, when (April 11th) fifteen 
persons perished, only one — Thomas Trevino, of Sobre- 
monte in Castile, who had " cursed the Holy Office and 
the Pope " — was burned alive. The remaining fourteen 
were burned after strangulation. "When the Liberal 
constitution of 1812 was adopted in Spain the end of 
the Inquisition began. One of the first reforms intro- 
duced by the Cortes was the decree of February 22, 1813, 
by which the Holy Office was suppressed throughout 
Spain and the Spanish dependencies. This decree was 
promulgated in Mexico on the 8th of the ensuing June ; 

their belief in Christianity and the doctrines of the Chnrch. This 
act of faith, or profession of faith, being ended, the tribunal an- 
nounced the crime for which each criminal had been tried, and 
the measure of guilt adjudged to attach to him ; after which an- 
nouncement, with a perfunctory recommendation to mercy, it 
relinquished him to the secular arm {i.e. to the civil authorities) 
for punishment. Hence, the auto de fe should not be confound- 
ed, as it usually is, with the burning or other punishment that 
followed it, and that, in theory, was the work of the secular 
power alone. 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 205 

and by proclamation of the Viceroy the property of the 
Inquisition was then declared forfeited to the royal treas- 
ury. Another Viceroyal proclamation ordered to be 
removed from the cathedral the tablets on which, ac- 
cording to usage, were inscribed the names of those 
whom the Holy Office had declared criminals. But with 
the overthrow of the Liberal constitution in Spain, and 
the return to the throne of Ferdinand VIE., the decree 
of suppression w^as rescinded and the Holy Office once 
more possessed its property and continued its work. 
The tribunal of the Inquisition was established again in 
Mexico January 21, 1814. This re-erection was for only 
a little time. Following the revival in Spain (March, 
1820) of the constitution of 1812, the decree issued by 
which the Inquisition was suppressed forever. The de- 
cree became effective in Mexico May 31, 1820. There is 
a certain poetic fitness to be found in the fact that the 
last years of the Inquisition in Mexico were spent in 
combating strenuously the spread of Liberalism ; that 
the last notable auto defe (November 26, 1815) was that 
at which the accused was the patriot Morelos. The find- 
ing against him was a foregone conclusion. "The Pres- 
bitero Jose Maria Morelos," declared the inquisitors, 
"is an unconfessed heretic {hereje formal negativo), an 
abettor of heretics and a disturber of the ecclesiastical 
hierarchy ; a profaner of the holy sacraments ; a traitor to 
God, to the King, and to the Pope." For which sins he 
was " condemned to do penance in a penitent's dress " 
(after the usual form), and was surrendered to the ten- 
der mercies of the secular arm. He was shot, Decem- 
ber 22, 1815. But it w^as the Inquisition that died. 

San Agustin (V. 102). Founded in Tagaste, in Nu- 
midia, by Saint Augustine in the fifth century, the order 



206 MEXICAN" GUIDE. 

of Augustinian friars was made an establishment of 
the Church and united in a single body by Pope 
Alexander VI. in the year 1256. The first Augustin- 
ians, seven in number, entered the City of Mexico 
June 7, 1533, and were housed by the Dominicans until 
their own temporary house was completed. They were 
ceded a tract of land, then called Zoquiapan, on the site 
now occupied by the Biblioteca Nacional, and of this they 
took possession in the following month of August. Here 
they built their first church and monastery, at a cost of 
$162,000 ; which money was given to them from the pub- 
lic funds by order of the Emperor Charles V. The cor- 
ner-stone of the church was laid by the Viceroy, Don An- 
tonio de Mendoza, August 28, 1541. This first church 
was destroyed by fire December 11, 1676. The first stone 
of the new building was laid on the 22d of the ensuing 
May, and the new church was dedicated December 14, 
1692. Adjoining the west side of the church is the older 
chapel of the Tercer Orden. In the church was a choir 
of exceeding magnificence, the cost of which alone was 
$240,000. The convent was suppressed by the general 
law of July 12, 1859, and in 1861 the church was dis- 
mantled, the beautiful choir being sold out of the 
country for $3,000. There is now established in this ex- 
church the Biblioteca Nacional (which see). 

San Hipdiito (I. 114). Historically and sentimentally 
this is one of the most interesting churches in the city. 
In front of the spot where it now stands there existed in 
the year 1520 the second line of defenses on the causeway 
(now the street occupied by the horse railway to Tacuba) 
that connected the Aztec city with the main-land west- 
ward. At this point was the greatest slaughter of the 
Spaniards during the retreat of the memorable Noche 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 207 

Tiiste (July 1, 1520). After the final conquest of the 
city, one of the survivors of that dismal night, Juan Gar- 
rido, having freshly in mind its bloody horrors, built of 
adobe at this place a little commemorative chapel. For 
a short time the chapel was known as " the chapel of 
Juan Garrido " ; but presently it came to be styled " the 
chapel of the martyrs " ; receiving this grander name, as 
Senor Orozco y Berra shrewdly observes, " perhaps with 
the object of making the Conquerors appear in the guise 
of defenders of the faith." The recouquest of the city 
was completed on the day of San Hipolito, August 13 
(1521), and this coincidence led to the dedication to San 
Hipolito of the commemorative chapel — the name that 
the»church, San Hipolito of the Martyrs, still retains. 
The present church, built mainly at the charges of the 
Municipality, was a very long while in course of construc- 
tion. It was begun in 1599, but was not dedicated, 
finally, until 1739. Later it was renovated, its present ap- 
pearance dating from the year 1777. Upon the exterior 
angle of the wall surrounding its atrium is a commemor- 
ative monument, consisting of alto-relievos in chiluca 
stone, representing in its central part an eagle carrying 
in his talons an Indian ; at its sides are arms, musical in- 
struments, trophies and devices of the ancient Mexicans, 
and in the upper part is a large medallion of ellij^tical 
form in which is carved this inscription : *' So great was 
the slaughter of Spaniards by the Aztecs in this place on 
the night of July 1, 1520, named for this reason the 
Dismal Night, that after having in the following year 
re-entered the city triumphantly the conquerors resolved 
to build here a chapel to be called the Chapel of the Mar- 
tyrs ; and which should be dedicated to San Hipolito be- 
cause the capture of the city occurred upon that Saint's 



208 MEXICAN" GUIDE. 

day." Until the year 1812 there was celebrated annu- 
ally, on the 13th of August, at this church a solemn 
ceremony, both religious and civil, known as the Pro- 
cession of the Banner {paseo del pendon), in which the 
Viceroy and the great officers of State and the nobilit^^ 
together with the Archbishop and dignitaries of the 
Church, took part. Its principal feature was the carry- 
ing in state of the crimson banner (still preserved in the 
National Museum) that was borne by the conquerors. 
(See Hospital de San Hipolito. ) 

Espfrltu Santo. This church, an offshoot from San 
Hipolito, has been extinct since the year 1862. All that 
remains visible of it is its eastern wall, a part of which 
may be seen above the row of little shops on the west 
side of the Calle de Espiritu Santo. From the suppres- 
sion of the Hipolitan order (see Hospital de San Hipolito) 
in 1821, the church and its adjoining convent was vari- 
ously used, as a school, and as a printing-house, until 
1853, when it was given to the Congregation of St. Vin- 
cent de Paul — by which the property was occupied until 
the order was suppressed. May 28, 1861. 

Nuestra Senora de Loreto (N. 38). The first repre- 
sentatives in Mexico of the Company of Jesus (founded by 
Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1534) sailed from Cadiz June 13, 
1572, and landed at Vera Cruz on the 9th of the ensuing- 
September. They were housed temporarily in the hos- 
pital of Jesus Nazareno, and soon took possession of lands 
given them by Alonzo de Villaseca, where they erected, 
in 1576, the church and college of San Pedro y San 
Pablo (L. 70). They were opposed by the Dominicans, 
and the college that they established brought them into 
conflict with the University ; but in time these differences 
were adjusted. The order was suppressed, by the de- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 209 

cree of the Spanish Cortes of June 25, 1767 ; was re-es- 
tabhshed by the royal order of September 10, 1815 ; 
and was suppressed again by the order of Ferdinand VII., 
confirmed by the Cortes, of September 6, 1820 — the order 
being promulgated in Mexico January 22, 1821. Under 
the Presidency of Santa Ana, by the decree of September 
19, 1853, the order once more was established in Mexico, 
only to be suppressed again, and finally, during the 
Presidency of Comonfort, by the decree of June 7, 1856. 
The church and college of San Pedro y San Pablo, after 
undergoing various vicissitudes — being in turn a hall of 
assembly for Congress, a theatre, a church once more, a 
Ubrary, a military hospital, a storehouse for forage in the 
time of the French occupation — finally became extinct ; 
thus leaving the Loreto as the oldest remaining of the 
Jesuit foundations. 

The pious Cacique of Tacuba, Don Antonio Cortes, 
built for the Jesuit Fathers, in 1573, a little church of canes 
dedicated to Saint Gregorio. (See Escuela Correcional de 
Artes y Oficios.) A more stable, though small, church 
succeeded this primitive structure. About the year 1675 
the Father Juan B. Zappa came to Mexico, bringing with 
him the image of Nuestra Seiiora de Loreto together with 
the plans and drawings of the Santa Casa. This house 
of the Virgin he desired to erect in Mexico, but his in- 
tention did not become effective. A chapel was built 
for the accommodation of the image upon the site oc- 
cupied by the baptistry of the church of San Gregorio. 
The worship of the image growing apace, new and larger 
chapels were built, successively, in the years 1686 and 
1738. Upon the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, the 
image was taken temporarily to the church of the Incar- 
nacion ; and then for its shelter the present fine church of 



210 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the Loreto was erected. This was begun in the year 1809, 
and was dedicated August 29, 1816. It was built at the 
charges of Seiior Don Antonio de Bassoco, and his wife 
the Marquesa de Castaniza, at a cost of $517,000, from the 
plans of the architects Manuel Tolsa and Agustin Paz. 
An architectural peculiarity to be observed in the build- 
ing is that for the minor branches of the Latin cross are 
substituted four rotundas, above the circular walls of 
which, and above the main arches of the nave, rises a 
superb dome — the grandest both in size and treatment 
now to be found in the capital. Within the brilliant in- 
terior are some notable paintings, probably by the 
eighteenth century artist Joaquin Esquivel, illustrating 
the life of Loyola ; and a fine San Gregorio beneath the 
choir. The structural error was made of using in the 
eastern wall a solid, and in the western a porous stone, 
with the result that the eastern wall has settled to such 
an extent that the church is very perceptibly out of the 
perpendicular. This dangerous sinking, together with 
the inundation of the building, that still further threat- 
ened its integrity, caused the church to be closed from 
the year 1832 till the year 1850 — the image meantime 
being housed in the church of San Pedro y San Pablo. 
Previous to its reopening examination of the building by 
competent engineers led to the conclusion that no fur- 
ther settling of the walls was likely to occur — a conclu- 
sion justified by the fact that no change in its condition 
has since taken place. In the sacristy, with other inter- 
esting pictures, is a portrait of the founder of the church. 
Father Zappa. 

Nuestra SePiora de la WIerced. The Order of 
Our Lady of Mercy {Nuestra Seiior a de la Merced) was 
founded, in August, 1218, by San Pedro Nolasco, some- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 211 

time the tutor of the young King James of Aragon, better 
known as Don Jayme el Conquistador. The principal 
motive of the order was the rescue of Christians held 
captive by the Moors. Later it became a j)urely religious 
institution, and as such only (with the amusing excep- 
tion noted below) was known in Mexico. Its chroniclers 
affirm, and such is the fact, that it was the first of the 
religious orders represented in Mexico, inasmuch as one 
of its members. Fray Bartolome de Olmedo, was in the 
company of Cortes. But it also is a fact that the order 
was not regularly founded in Mexico until the year 
1574, and its first convent was not completed until the 
year 1593. Both church and convent were very small. 
By sturdy begging the brothers presently acquired a 
capital of $18,000, which was invested in the purchase 
of a certain landed estate, the property of Guillermo Bor- 
ondate, erroneously (see p. 135) believed to have been 
pre\dously occupied by the arsenal in which the famous 
" brigantines " of the siege were housed. Here in 1601 
they founded a new church and convent ; and very con- 
siderably extended their lands by the purchase of adja- 
cent property, and by taking forcible possession of a 
small street by which their estate was divided. In order 
to obtain the right to close and take possession of this 
street, they asked title to it from the Viceroy, Don Gas- 
par de Zuniga — who very promptly refused theu' request. 
Paying no attention to this refusal, they worked so hard 
through a whole night that in the morning the street 
was closed at its two ends by stout waUs ; at sight of 
which the citizens living thereabouts, angered by this 
invasion of their rights, set themselves in array to tear 
the walls down. But the monks, not ha\dng lost their 
military instinct, so valiantly defended their ill-gotten 



212 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

property that their besiegers were repulsed. Nor was 
the ajDpeal of the citizens to the Viceroy more successful. 
Don Gaspar paid no attention to their complaint, and 
the street remained from that time onward closed. 
Later, a magnificent church costing $150,000 was built 
here, the first stone of which was laid March 20, 1634, 
and which was dedicated August 30, 1654. Upon the 
suppression of the order, in 1860, the church was par- 
tially destroyed, together with the convent ; new streets 
were laid out through the property and the market of 
the Merced (Mercado de Merced) was here established. 
Upon the destruction of this church the church of Belen 
de los Padres remained the oldest surviving foundation 
of the order. 

Belen de los Padres (S. 43). In the years imme- 
diately succeeding the Conquest there lived, near by 
where the church of Belen de los Padres now stands, a 
pious Indian woman named Clara Maria, the owner of a 
small landed estate. In their walks in the fields the 
Brothers of Mercy passed often her door, and she was so 
well pleased with them and with their holy work that 
she offered to present them with land for a monastery, 
and to maintain the monastery, should they build one 
near a httle chapel that she herself already had raised. 
Accordingly such a little monastery was built beside the 
chapel, and the good Clara Maria punctually fulfilled her 
promise during the space of eleven j^ears : providing the 
maintenance of the monastery and herself daily cleans- 
ing and decorating the chapel. At the end of this time 
she married a good-for-nothing ("bad-head," mala cabeza, 
to quote exactly the words of the ancient chronicle) 
who speedily spent all her substance, and left both her 
and the miniature religious establishment utterly desti- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 213 

tute. lu her poverty, Clara Maria was cared for kindly 
by the good brothers, for whom, most opportunely, there 
was raised up another Indian patron, Juan Marcos, 
who gave them the land on which the present church 
stands, and who dedicated himself and his family to 
their service. A certain Dona Ysabel de Picazo supple- 
mented this gift by giving her considerable fortune for 
the building of the new church — which was dedicated, 
under the name of Nuestra Seiiora de Belen, August 3, 
1678. The present church, built by the munificence of 
Don Domingo del Campo y Murga, was dedicated De- 
cember 14, 1735. Adjoining the church and convent 
was built (being opened in April, 1687) the college of 
San Pedro Pascual. In the church and sacristy there 
are several anonymous pictures of much merit. 

San Diego (I. 16). Of the third company of discalced 
Franciscans (styled Dieguinos in Mexico) that passed 
westward to the Philippine Islands, nine remained in 
Mexico to found the order there. On the 27th of July, 
1591, they began to build the church and monastery 
of San Diego in the plaza then called the Tianquis 
(market-place) de San Hipolito, the charges of the 
work being borne by a pious gentleman, Don Mateo 
Mauleon, and his wife. Work w^as pushed so vigorously, 
that in 1593 they removed from their temporary quar- 
ters in the hospice at San Cosme (which see) to their 
own monastery. The church was built less rapidly, be- 
ing finally dedicated in September, 1621. It survived 
for nearly two hundred years, the present church having 
been built early'in the present century. By the Laws 
of the Beform the monks were expelled and the mon- 
astery was changed into dwelling houses. The church, 
being property vested in private hands, was not dis- 



214 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

turbed. Services continue to be held in it. Sa-n Diego, 
at the west end of the Alameda, is not a large church 
but it is richly decorated. Attention should be paid es- 
pecially to the chapel of Los Dolores, the most harmo- 
niously decorated of any chapel in the capital. Fifteen 
large pictures by Vallejo completely cover the walls, tbe 
more notable being "The Last Supper," "The Prayer 
in the Garden," and " The Exposition of Christ." In the 
four angles beneath the dome are good statues of the 
four Evangelists, and on each side of the main altar are 
allegorical pictures, dedicated, respectively, to the Vir- 
gin of Guadalupe and San Jose, which are deserving of 
attention. The main church contains a handsome tab- 
ernacle, completed through the exertions of the illus- 
trious Fray Carnago. In the sacristy are some credita- 
ble pictures representing scenes in the life of the Virgin. 
Nuestra Senora del Carmen (L. 17). Tbe first 
members of the Carmelite order established in Mexico 
came in the fleet that accompanied the Viceroy Villa 
Manrique, and entered the city October 18, 1585. They 
were first established in some houses adjacent to the 
church of San Sebastian, of which they took charge — 
their entry into these houses and their administration 
of the affairs of the parish being in accordance with per- 
mission given by the Viceroy : but most vigorously, 
though ineffectually, opposed by the Franciscans, by 
whom the church had been built and to whom the houses 
belonged. Twenty years later the church and monas- 
tery were established in their present situation, the 
church of San Sebastian being turned over to the Au- 
gustinians. After several partial renewals the building 
at last was pulled down, early in the present century, 
in order to erect a new and magnificent church. Bat 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 215 

this project never got beyond the foundations for the 
main building, and the completion of the church now 
existing — a relatively small building, that was included 
in the plan as a chapel. In 1866 the monastery was 
turned into dwelling-houses, and in May of that year the 
treasures of the church were taken possession of by the 
government and its tower was destroyed. Later, it was 
reopened and services continue to be held in it. 

Nuestra Senora de Monserrate (V. 48). About 
the year 1580 there lived in Mexico two devotees of the 
Virgin of Monserrate, who caused to be brought for 
them from Monserrate, in Catalonia, a replica of the 
famous image there preserved. It was their purpose to 
build for the housing of the holy image a church, and 
with the church also a hospital. A brotherhood was 
organized, and a small hospital was built on the site of 
the present Molino de Belen — which did good service 
during the pestilence (known as the cocoliztli) among the 
Indians. Later it was decided to build a monastery and 
church in the city, but dissensions in the brotherhood 
led to difficulties with the archbishop and suits in the 
civil courts ; so that, finally, the brotherhood was dis- 
solved and the church (built in 1590) and the monastery 
were turned over to the Benedictines of Monserrate — 
— two members of which monastery came from Spain 
(in the year 1602) to take possession of it and to organ- 
ize the religious establishment. The order finally was 
established in the year 1614; but its house never 
had more than eight or ten members, and never passed 
beyond the condition of a priory, always remaining 
subject to the abbot of Monserrate in Spain. Notwith- 
standing its unfortunate beginning, this learned and use- 
ful order prospered in Mexico, and iu return conferred 



216 MEXICATf GUIDE. 

upon the country substantial benefits. Following their 
custom in Europe, its members Avere zealous in the 
good work of teaching ; they enriched the literature of 
the country with a number of important works, besides 
copying many valuable manuscripts, and so giving to 
their contents a wider currency ; they introduced into 
Mexico many fruits and vegetables from the old world ; 
they were noted always for their charity and good works. 
On the 20th of January, 1821, the order in Mexico — then 
consisting of two priests and two lay-brothers — was sup- 
j^ressed by order of the Spanish Cortes. The church 
remains open. Three pictures from the priory are pre- 
served in the Academy, the most important of which is 
St. John in the Desert, by the celebrated Spanish artist 
Zurbaran. 

San Juan de Dios (I. 72). The present church 
was built upon the site of the little chapel (built about 
1582) of Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados, attached 
to the hospital of the same name, and was dedicated 
May 16, 1629. It was partially destroyed by fire March 
10, 1766, and then was rebuilt as it now is seen. It has 
a very handsome recessed portal, and a fine fa9ade. The 
effect of the side upon the street has been destroyed 
by the erection of a row of highly objectionable houses. 
(See Hospital de San Juan de Dios.) 

San Ldzaro (P. 71). Cortes founded a hospital for 
lepers that soon became extinct. To meet the need for 
such an institution, the Hospital of San Lazaro, with its 
church of the same name, was founded by the philan- 
thropic Dr. Pedro Lopez in the year 1572. The hos- 
pital was maintained at the charges of Dr. Lopez and 
his descendants until the year 1721. From that date it 
was in charge of the Juauinos (Brothers of St. John), 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 217 

until the suppression of the order in 1821. It then 
passed into the control of the municipality, and finally 
was extinguished, the patients being transferred to the 
Municipal Hospital, August 12, 1862. The present 
church was erected in 1721 (when the property passed 
into the hands of the Juaninos) at the charges of Father 
Buenaventura Medina Picazo. The cost of the church 
was $75,175, and of the organ and interior decorations 
$7,867. The church was the finest belonging to the 
order in Mexico. 

San Antonio Abad (W. 53). Upon the arrival of the 
first representatives of the order of San Antonio Abad in 
Mexico (1628) they built for themselves a church and 
a convent-hospital for contagious diseases in the south- 
eastern suburb of the city — the church being very small, 
and the hospital, for the period, very large. The order 
never exceeded ten in number, in this establishment ; 
and was extinguished, in common with the order gener- 
ally in Spain and Spanish dependencies, by the bull of 
Pius YL (August 24, 1787) — on the representation of 
Charles m. that the houses of the order practically were 
deserted because of the gadding tendencies of its mem- 
bers. All that remains of this establishment in Mexico 
is the Capilla de San Antonio Abad (W. 53) ; but the 
name survives in many ways in the vicinity of the foun- 
dation : the Calzada de San Antonio Abad, the Garita de 
San Antonio Abad, the Puente de San Antonio Abad and 
the Calle de San Antonio Abad all derive their names 
from this source. 

La Profesa (K. 36). Properly speaking, the name 
of this church is San Jose el Eeal, Oratorio de San 
Felipe Neri ; but popular custom has retained its jDrimi- 
tive name. It is a Jesuit foundation, of 1595, built 



218 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

upon property bequeathed by Don Fernando Nuilez 
Obregon. The present church was dedicated, as the 
Casa Profesa de la Compaiiia de Jesus, August 28, 1720 ; 
and remained in the possession of the Jesuits until their 
expulsion from Mexico in 1767. (See church of the 
Lore to. ) The church, with its dependent very consider- 
able estate of houses and lands in its vicinity, then re- 
verted to the government ; of which the property was 
bought by the Felipenses (Oratorians) in 1771 — their 
own habitation, and a magnificent church partially com- 
jDleted, having been destroyed by the earthquake of 
April 4, 1768. This division of the congregation of San 
Felipe Neri, an unvowed religious order, had its inde- 
pendent origin in Mexico. It was founded by Don An- 
tonio Calderon Benavides in 1657, in accordance with 
the rule of San Felipe Neri, and eventually was incor- 
porated with the Congregation by the Papal bull of De- 
cember 24, 1697 ; being then instituted as the Oratorio 
de Mexico. The church, an elegant building of nave 
and aisles, is one of the finest in the city. It was de- 
signed by Pelegrin Clave, by whom — assisted by his 
three most famous pupils, Petronilo Monroy, Jose Ra- 
mirez and Felipe Castro — its best ]3ictures, representing 
the Seven Sacraments and the Adoration of the Cross, 
were painted. The interior is very richly decorated in 
white and gold ; and its main altar is one of the most 
notable works of the architect Tolsa. The magnificent 
drapings of crimson velvet embroidered with gold, used 
on the great festivals, were presented by Father Man- 
ual Sanchez de Tagle y Bolea ; a notable benefactor of 
the church. At the time of the purchase of the edifice by 
the Felipenses, its name was changed to San Jose el Real ; 
but the name of Profesa, having been in current use for 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 219 

nearly seventy years, was too firmly fixed iu the popular 
mind to be abandoned ; and to this day that name is re- 
tained. The street upon ^Yhich the church fronts, how- 
ever, is called San Jose el E,eal — while the street ujjon 
its southern side (in reality the Third of San Francisco) 
often is called the Calle de Profesa. Upon this southern 
side of the church the municipality caused to be made, 
in the year 1885, a very pretty little garden. The 
baildin^'s at one time belonofino* to the church have for 
the most part disappeared, and the few remaining have 
been materially modified. After the expulsion of the 
order (under the general law of suppression) the prop- 
erty reverted to the government, and in February, 1861, 
the work of demolition was begun for the opening of the 
fine Calle del Cinco de Mayo. 

Betlemitas (K. 31). The order of Betlemitas (Beth- 
lehemites) was founded in Guatemala, in the year 1653, 
bv Pedro de San Jose Vetancui't, a " descendant of the 
ancient Kings of the Canary Islands," and a cousin of the 
chronicler. Its object was the care of the sick and the 
education of youth. The order was founded in the City 
of Mexico in 1674, and in March of the ensuing year re- 
ceived the lands upon which the present church building 
stands. Their hospital was opened, with nineteen beds. 
May 29, 1675. The present church building was erected 
at the charges of Don Manuel Gomez, the corner-stone 
being laid June 2, 1681, and the church dedicated Sep- 
tember 29, 1687. In the monastery attached to the 
church were the free schools for which the order was 
famous ; not less famous for the thoroughness of the 
teaching than for the vigorous methods by which study 
and discipline were enforced. Among the much be-fer- 
uled pupils was current the dismal aphorism : " learn- 



220 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ing is bought with blood ! " — la letra con sangre enira / 
The order was suppressed loj a decree of the Spanish 
Cortes of 1820. The monastery for a time was occupied 
as a military school, later was occupied in part by the 
nuns of the Enseiianza Nueva (which see) and in part by 
the school of the Compaiiia Lancasteriana (which see) — 
the latter still being in possession. The church build- 
ing has been transformed into a public library. (See 
Libraries, Cinco de Mayo.) 

Coiegio de las Ninas (K. 40). This educational es- 
tablishment, of which now the church only survives, was 
founded in the year 1548 by Fray Pedro de Gante as a 
free school for poor girls of good position. It was gov- 
erned and administered by the Archicofradia del Santis- 
imo Sacramento, and being an institution well-meriting 
approval and aid it acquired, by gifts and bequests, a 
very considerable estate. All of this estate, including 
the handsome building in which the school w^as housed, 
passed into the hands of the government under the op- 
eration of the Laws of the Reform. The school building 
is now occupied by the German club. The little church 
remains open. 

San Fernando (G. 18). The Order of San Fer- 
nando, belonging to the Franciscan apostolic college 
called of the Propaganda Fide, was first established in 
New Spain, in the city of Queretaro, in the j^ear 1650. 
The order was founded in the City of Mexico about the 
year 1693 by the venerable Fray Antonio Margil de Je- 
sus ; and the college was established in the city by the 
royal order of October 15, 1733. The corner-stone of 
the present church was laid October 11, 1735, and the 
church was dedicated — with most imposing ceremonies 
extending over five days — April 20, 1755. The church 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 221 

is one of the largest in the city, and before its recent re- 
construction was decorated in a style of elegant severity. 
It was badly shattered by the earthquake of June 19, 
1858 ; and while the necessary work of reconstruction 
was in progress the Juarez government possessed the 
city and for a season the church was closed. The repairs 
have been completed, but much of its original beauty is 
now lost. Its altars, in the churrigueresque style, have 
entirely disappeared, and so have many fine paintings 
which once adorned it. A few paintings yet remain, the 
most notable of which are a "Birth of Christ — " illustra- 
ting a mass of the Nativity — and " Duns Scotus before 
the Doctors of the Church." From all of the j)aintings 
the names of the artists have disappeared. Upon the sup- 
pression of the religious orders the church was partially 
dismantled, and the monastery was sold into private hands 
— being subsequently (September, 1862) in great part 
demolished in order to open the Avenida Guerrero. 
Adjoining this church is the burial place of San Fernando 
(which see). 

San Camilo (Y. 99). The Camilists, vowed to the 
care of the sick and the consolation of the dying, were es- 
tablished in Mexico by Father Diego Martin de Moya in 
the year 1755. Their monastery was extinguished by the 
laws of the Reform. It is now occupied by the Catholic 
Theological Seminary. The church remains — a small 
building, with an interior tastefully decorated in white 
and gold. Its official name now is the church of the 
Seminario Conciliar. 

Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion (J. 19). This 
(in Mexico) Franciscan order was founded in the City of 
Mexico (under a royal order given in 1530) in the year 
1541 : in which year* Fray Antonio de la Cruz, a Francis- 



222 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

can, brought from the convent of Santa Ysabel de Sala- 
manca three nuns by whom the convent, the first convent 
of nuns in New Spain, was estabhshed. The first house 
of the order became ruinous about the year 1644 ; and 
then was built — at the charges of Don Tom as Suaznaba, 
and of Don Simon de Haro and Dona Ysabel Barrera, 
his wife — the convent, and the church now existing, at a 
total cost of $250,000. The church, repaired in 1809, 
and again in 1854, is a costly, ugly building of the 
Greek composite order, and before the Reform was dec- 
orated throughout its interior with extraordinary mag- 
nificence. Some portion of this decoration still remains. 
The tower is one of the highest in the city. Over the 
main altar is an image of the Purisima Concepcion, the 
origin of which is lost in antiquity. There is a tradition 
to the effect that in the rear of the organ was a damp 
place caused by the falling, ina most mysterious manner 
and at long intervals, of drops of water. The source of 
the drops never could be found, although most diligent 
search was made by masons to find some flaw in the. roof 
that would account for them. To one of the nuns of the 
convent it was revealed in a vision that the drops were a 
sort of heavenly clock, marking off the years of the con- 
vent's existence and that when the dropping ceased the 
convent would fall. As the convent was secularized 
in the Reformation, and now is utilized for a school and 
dwellings, this mysterious supernatural water-clock may 
be supposed to have ticked out its prophecy to a com- 
plete fulfilment. The convent was the most fashionable 
religious establishment in Mexico, its inmates being re- 
cruited from among the noblest families of the land. Its 
wealth was prodigious, a valuation of its property at the 
time of secularization showing a total of $1,660,955, 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 223 

Through the convent property have been opened the 
streets of Progreso and Cinquenta-siete. 

La Balvanera (V. 21). Upon its foundation by Con- 
cepcionistas in the year 1573 this convent and church 
were dedicated to Jesus de la Penitencia. Later, the 
dedication was changed to Nuestra Seiiora de Balvanera. 
The primitive church having fallen into decay, the exist- 
ing church was built by the Licenciado Jose de Lombeida 
with property bequeathed for that purpose by the Dona 
Beatriz de Miranda — the source whence the building 
fund came being so well concealed that not until the 
Licenciado's death was the charity of Dona Beatriz 
known. The corner-stone was laid May 3, 1667, and the 
church was dedicated December 7, 1671. Since that 
date it has been materially repaired. 

Santa Clara (K, 33). Francisca de San Agustin 
and her five daughters lived together a holy life of re- 
tirement from the world in the beaterio adjoining the 
chapel (now the church) of La Santisima (see p. 181) : 
a little dwelling given them by the Ayuntamiento un- 
til such time as they should find benefactors to build 
them a convent. These they found in the persons of Don 
Alonzo Sanchez and his wife, who gave them a house at 
the corner of the present Calles Vergara and Santa Clara ; 
and here, upon the 22d of December, 1579, they took up 
their abode — having previously, January 4, 1579, taken 
iipon themselves the vows of the order of Santa Clara in 
the church of the Concepcion. The church of Santa 
Clara was dedicated October 22, 1661. This church, 
and a large part of the convent, were partially destroyed 
by fire April 5, 1755. The present church, practically, 
dates from the completion of the restoration after the 
fire, March 18, 1756. The convent was closed February 



224 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

13, 1861, and subsequently was sold and transformed 
into dwelling bouses. The church, lacking its choir, re- 
mains open. It has been modernized and is uninterest- 
ing. Even the beautiful altar, the work of the celebrated 
ecclesiastical artificer Pedro Eamirez, although it escaped 
destruction in the fire, has been removed. The convent 
is now a stable. At the outer corner of the church, on 
the streets of Vergara and Santa Clara, was a little 
chapel, completed and dedicated to La Purisima January 
7, 1730. This building has been degraded into a shop. 
Jesus Maria (O. 22). About the year 1577, two 
pious men, Pedro Tomas Denia and Gregorio de Pes- 
quera, conceived the purpose of founding a convent 
into which the descendants of the Conquerors should be 
received without dower. With money of their own to 
the amount of nearly $5,000, and with alms given them, 
they purchased property at the corner of the present 
Puente de Mariscala and Callejon de Sfca Cruz, and there 
built a little convent and a little church. The author- 
ization for this establishment was given by Pope Greg- 
ory Xin. in a bull dated January 21, 1578, in which was 
decreed that the convent should be known as Jesus 
Maria, and that the nuns entering it should take the 
vows and be under the direction of the Concepcionistas. 
Therefore it was that the first nuns to enter into the 
new convent came from the convent of the Concepcion ; 
and this took place February 10, 1580 ; and on tlie en- 
suing day both church and convent, with solemn cere- 
monies, were dedicated. The site of the convent pro \dng 
damp and unhealthful, especially because of the inunda- 
tion of that year, a new site was purchased — that where 
the church now is — and thither, September 13, 1582, 
the establishment was removed. It is said that about 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 225 

this time there came to dwell in the convent of the Con- 
cepcion, and thence presently removed to this convent 
of Jesus Maria, a nun who was the daughter of King 
Pliilip n. ; and who also was the niece of the then Arch- 
bishop of Mexico, Don Pedro Moj^a de Contreras, later 
Viceroy of the Province, and first Inquisitor General of 
New Spain— some of which honors, at least, fairly ma}' 
be supposed to have come to this excellent prelate through 
his sister's connection with the King. It is certain that 
the coming of this nun to the convent of Jesus Maria 
was of great material benefit to the establishment. It 
was raised to the titular order of a royal convent ; es- 
pecial directions were given from Spain for its care and 
protection by the authorities of the Province ; and from 
both the Provincial and Koyal treasuries large sums of 
money were given it. With the money thus obtained 
the corner-stone of the existing church was laid March 
9, 1597 ; and the church (lacking then its tower) was 
dedicated February 7, 1621. The convent also was much 
enlarged and improved, " so that the presence of that 
lady within its walls was to all a blessing." February 
13, 1861, the nuns were expelled from the building, and 
the building itself was sold and changed into dwelling 
houses. The church, built in the pseudo-classic style, is 
massive and lumpj^ In the chancel are two pictures by 
Jimeno, a St. Thomas and a Virgin with the Infant 
Christ, ver}'' agreeable in color. The altar-piece, Christ 
in the Temple, by Cordero, is good in drawing and com- 
position, but its color is crude. 

San Gerdnimo (V. 23). This convent, founded un- 
der the Augustinian rule by the Concepcionistas, in the 
year 1586, was one of the most extensive establishments 
of its kind in Mexico. But its most enduring fame rests 



226 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

upon the fact that here Juana Inez cle la Cruz, the cele- 
brated poetess and general writer, took the veil and lived 
for many years ; and that here, April 17, 1695, she died. 
The convent was suppressed under the Laws of the Re- 
form and a portion of it is now used as a barrack. An 
effort has been made recently (1885) by the ladies of the 
City of Mexico to purchase and preserve that portion 
of the building in which is the cell once occupied by the 
" Musa Mexicana." 

Santa Catalina de Sena (L. 32). By the exertions 
of two pious women named Felipas this Dominican or- 
der was founded in the City of Mexico July 3, 1593 ; 
when two nuns came from the convent of the order in 
Oaxaca and took possession of the little convent that the 
pious Felipas had prepared for their abode. Two years 
later the establishment was removed to the spot occu- 
pied by the existing convent building ; and shortly there- 
after the present church was built. The corner-stone of 
the church was laid August 15, 1615, and it was dedi- 
cated March 7, 1623. The convent was suppressed by 
the Laws of the Reform. 

San Juan de la PenitencSa (R. 34). In the quarter 
of the city then called Moyotla, a low-lying, swampy re- 
gion where only Indians dwelt, there was, in former 
times, in the place where the existing church now 
stands, the little chapel of San Juan Bautista. This 
chapel was one of the four chapels founded by Fray 
Pedro de Gante about the year 1524 as adjuncts to the 
parish church of San Jose in San Francisco. After a 
time, however, it was neglected, and but for the active 
piety of the Indians themselves would have utterly dis- 
appeared. These, abounding in good works, not only 
maintained it in repair, but built beside it a little hos- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 221 

pice where travellers from distant parts coming to the 
city might be freely housed. Later, the wish arising 
in the hearts of these Indians that their hospice might 
be made a little convent of Santji Clara nuns — an order 
which they much loved — they petitioned the Viceroy, 
Don Luis de Velasco, that this might be ; and Don 
Luis, beholding gladly their piety, granted their prayer. 
So it came to pass that on the 18th day of July in the 
year of grace 1593, there came out from the convent of 
Santa Clara, being duly licensed by the Eev. Padre Fray 
Eodrigo de Santillan, four nuns ; and these, marching 
in procession, accompanied by the nobility of the city 
and a great multitude, went to the quarter where the 
little convent was and there took up their abode — being 
received by the pious Indians of that quarter, and many 
Indians gathered fi'om afar, with glad shouts and dances 
and music and all manner of such si^ns as these bar- 
barics use to express great joy. And when, by an earth- 
quake, the church here built was destroyed, there was 
performed a miracle ; for a wooden figure of the Child 
Jesus that was in the church upraised its arm and sta^^ed 
the fall of a great arch ! Which miracle being noised 
abroad, the figure thenceforth was held in great venera- 
tion ; and the fame of it caused great alms to be given 
quickly to the convent, so that the church in a little 
Avhile was built anew. And when this second church, 
and the convent with it, grew ruinous with age and 
were pulled down, the convent and the present church 
were built at the charges of a pious woman. Dona Juana 
Villaseiior Lomelin ; the corner-stone of the church being 
laid February 6, 1695, and its dedication taking place 
January 24, 1711. But even the possession of its mir- 
aculous image did not save the convent of San Juan de 



228 MEXICAIN' GUIDE. 

la Penitencia from the destructive force of the Laws of 
the Reform. When the convents throughout Mexico 
were suppressed this also passed away. 

Nuestra Senora de la Encarnacion (L. 30). This 
convent, the most magnificent in the city, practically re- 
mains intact, and from it may be obtained some notion 
of the elegance to which convent life was carried in 
Mexico, in the richer establishments, before the Laws of 
the Reform were put in force. The foundation of Nues- 
tra Senora de la Encarnacion — usually spoken of sim^^ly 
as La Encarnacion — was laid in a small way March 21, 
1593, by nuns vowed to the rules of the Concepcion- 
istas, under the patronage of Dr. Sancho Sanchez de 
Munon. New buildings quickly were erected, and a 
patron was found, in the person of Don Alvaro de Lor- 
enzana, who built the church from plans by the Jesuit 
Father Luis Benitez at a cost of $100,000. The corner- 
stone was laid December 18, 1639, and the church was 
dedicated with magnificent ceremonies (for which Don 
Alvaro paid, in cost of decorations, entertainment, etc , 
$3,113), March 7, 1648. At the end of the last century 
the cloister, extending in front of each of the three 
stories of the convent in the inner court-j'^ard, was built 
by the architect Don Miguel Constanzo. This beauti- 
ful cloister remains unchanged. Here were deposited, 
after the suppression of the monastic orders, the very 
many pictures removed from the other convents and 
from the monasteries of the city. After the convent 
became government property it was used for various 
purposes, and is now (1886) occupied by the Law 
School (Escuela de Jurisprudencia), and a school for 
girls. The value of the property owned by this convent 
when it was suppressed was $1,077,191, The church is 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 229 

without aisles, and loses somewhat in effect by the com- 
parative lowness of the vaulted roof. The interior has 
been modernized, new altars having been erected of the 
rather meaningless Grecian type that has been in vogue 
in Mexico during the past century. The main altar, of 
compai'atively recent construction, is notable for the 
la\dsh use of gold in its decoration. 

San Lorenzo (J. 24). This Augustinian establishment 
was founded in 1698 by four nuns from the convent of 
San Geronimo and two from the convent of Jesus Maria, 
the patrons of the foundation being Don Juan de Chav- 
arria Valero, and Doiia Maria Zaldivar Mendoza ; the 
latter being also the first novice. The present church 
was built at the charges of Juan Fernandez Eiofrio, and 
was dedicated July 16, 1650. The convent is now used 
by the Escuela de Artes y Oficios para hombres. 

Santa Inez (O. 45). In the year 1600 this convent 
was founded by nuns from the Concepcion, under the 
patronage of the Marqueses de la Cadena who spent 
upon the building and the chui'ch connected with it enor- 
mous sums. The convent, now converted into dwelling 
houses, contained many pictures by the Mexican artist 
Ibarra. The present church was dedicated January 20, 
1770. It has a fine doorway of the Ionic order, and the 
large doors are richly ornamented with carvings in wood. 
After the suppression of the convent the church was dis- 
mantled and was closed for twenty years. It was re- 
opened June 11, 1883, under the name of the Sagrado 
Corazon de Jesus — but commonly is spoken of by its 
primitive name. 

Santa Ysabel (west side Calle de Sta Ysabel). This 
beautiful convent and church have almost entirely disap- 
peared. The tower of the church has been demolished. 



230 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

but a portion of the southern wall still may be seen above 
the roofs of the houses on the western side of the Calle 
de Santa Ysabel. The convent property included the 
square between the Puente de San Francisco and the 
Callejon de Sta Ysabel, and the Calle de Sta Ysabel and 
the Mirador of the Alameda. After the suppression of 
the order all of this space, excepting the part occupied 
by the church, was transformed into dwelling houses — 
the handsome row of houses on the Mirador of the Ala- 
meda being then built — and the church was occupied as 
a manufactory of silk. The convent was founded under 
the patronage of Dona Catarina de Peralta (who herself 
was the first novice), February 1, 1601. It was intended 
by the patroness that the establishment should be of the 
bare-footed first order of Santa Clara ; but as the situa- 
tion, by its dampness, offered but little encouragement to 
barefooted piety, the rule adopted was that of the Fran- 
ciscanas Urbanistas — an order that wears shoes. The 
convent was twice rebuilt, upon a scale of increasing mag- 
nificence, the latest building being completed May 27, 
1852. The church now is occupied by the French So- 
ciete Harmonique et Dramatique. 

San Jos6 de Cracia(V. 25). In a house that stood 
upon the present site of the church of San Jose de Gracia 
there met in ancient times a little company of pious wom- 
en, some widows and others wives, who associated them- 
selves together in a society to which they gave the name 
of Santa Monica. At the wish of this compan}^ that a con- 
vent should be established in the place where their meet- 
ings were held, Fray Garcia Guerra obtained the neces- 
sary license, and the convent was founded by two nuDS 
from the convent of the Concepcion and two from the con- 
vent of the Encarnacion, under the patronage of Don Far- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 231 

naiiclo Villegjis, in the year IGIO ; in which time also was 
built the first church. About the year 1658, the church 
being- then much dilapidated, the present building was 
erected at the charges of Don Navarro de Pastrana ; the 
corner-stone being laid March 19, 1659, and the dedica- 
tion taking place November 24, 1661. The convent, as 
such, has passed away. The church, becoming the prop- 
erty of the government when the Laws of the Reform 
w^ent into effect, was purchased from the government, 
about the year 1870, by the Protestant organization 
known as The Mexican Branch of the Catholic Church of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. (See San Francisco.) 

Santa Teresa la Antigua (M. 26). The Carmelite 
order of Santa Teresa first was planted in New Spain in 
the year 1604, being then established in Puebla. Thence 
the order w^as established in the City of Mexico in this 
wise : There were in the convent of Jesus Maria two 
nuns devoted to the rule of Santa Teresa, which they 
followed under the guidance of the Carmelite Fathers. 
Hearing of their devotion, Don Juan Luis de Rivera of- 
fered to found in the city a convent of this order in which 
they might dwell. Dying before his pious purpose could 
be executed, he left provision for it in his will ; devising, 
for the use of the to-be convent, certain moneys and the 
house in which he had lived. Yet some years went by after 
Don Juan's death and no disposition w^as shown by his 
heirs to make the bequest operative ; and so the matter 
stood when there arrived in Mexico the new Archbishop, 
Don Juan Perez de la Serna. Now this Archbishop was 
a brisk and most punctual person, and so soon as he 
knew that the Church w^as defrauded of her rights by the 
heirs of Don Juan he went straightwa}^ to law with them ; 
and as the will of Don Juan was clear and explicit the 



232 MEXiCAisr gijide. 

suit was adjudged in his favor. Therefore, July 1, 1615, 
the money in dispute was paid over to him, and the 
possession of the houses was his. But here a new diffi- 
culty confronted him in the plump refusal of the tenants 
of those houses to move away. However, this Archbishop 
was a person of expedients. Gaining entrance to the 
houses in the night time, he caused to be built within 
them an altar : and in the first light of dawn on the 
morning of July 4, 1615, all of the recalcitrant tenants 
were aroused by a most prodigious thumping and shout- 
ing and ringing of bells, and then were bidden to attend 
at the impromptu altar while the Archbishop celebrated 
the mass. In wonder and astonishment they came ; and 
when the mass was at an end the Archbishop told them 
shortly that he had taken possession of those houses for 
a holy purpose with the authority of the Law and with 
the approval of the Church ; and that the sooner they 
got out of them the better. And thereupon they went. 
With the same energy that had characterized his fourth 
of July celebration, the Archbishop set workmen to the 
demolition of the buildings on the morning of the 5th ; 
and on the afternoon of the same day the foundations of 
the long-delaj^ed convent were set in place ; and so furi- 
ously did this vigorous churchman push matters that on 
March 1, 1616, the two nuns who so long had desired to 
be of the order of Santa Teresa — having the day before 
taken the vows and assumed the Carmelite habit — were 
installed in their convent. Their installation was accom- 
panied by imposing ceremonies, at which the Vice-queen 
and some of the most noble ladies of the cit}^ assisted ; 
and the solemnity of the occasion so impressed one of the 
ladies in waiting upon the Vice-queen that then and there 
she became the convent's first novice. This convent was 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 2'S,^ 

dedicated, as was its church, to San Jose. The existing 
church was built at the charges of Seilor Estc'ban MoUna 
de Mosquera ; the corner-stone being laid October 8, 
1G78, and the church dedicated to Nuestra Senora la 
Antigua (this dedication being expressly stipulated for 
by Don Esteban as a condition precedent to his patron- 
age) September 10, 1684. 

The convent and the church practically lost their primi- 
tive names (even before the convent was suppressed) ; 
these being merged in the name of the existing chapel 
of El Sefior de Santa Teresa : and as there exists also 
a church (Santa Teresa la Nueva) dedicated to Santa 
Teresa, this church always is spoken of as Santa Teresa 
la Antigua. The beautiful chapel of El Seiior de- Santa 
Teresa, in reality a large church, was built for the suita- 
ble housing of the miraculous crucifix still remaining 
there. This crucifix was brought from Spain in the year 
1515, and was placed in the church of the mining town 
of the Cardonal (in the present State of Hidalgo), where 
it was known as the Santo Cristo de Cardonal. In course 
of time the crucifix became injured and unsightly and 
was thrown into a fire to be burned. The fl.ames failing 
to consume it, it was buried. Later, it chanced to be 
dug up again ; and was found still uninjured. Finally, 
it mii'aculously renewed its freshness and appeared as 
though newly made. Hearing of these things, the Arch- 
bishop of Mexico, Don Juan Perez de la Serna, caused it 
to be placed in an oratory ; and in 1634, his successor, 
Don Francisco Manzo de Zuniga, caused a chapel to be 
built for it at his private charge. The crucifix was 
brought to the City of Mexico — though in order to secure 
it the emissaries of the Archbishop had to give regular 
battle to the people of the Cardonal, who most vigorously 



234 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

opposed its removal — and when the church of Nuestra 
Senora la Antigua was erected an especial chapel therein 
was provided for it. The worship of the miraculous im- 
age spread rapidly in the city, and as the chapel con- 
taining it was deemed too poor to be thus honored, a 
new one was built at the charges of Don Manuel Flores ; 
the corner-stone being laid December 17, 1798, and the 
dedication taking place May 17, 1813. This structure, 
of which a considerable portion still remains, was con- 
sidered one of the most beautiful church buildings ever 
erected in Mexico ; and the greatest work of its archi- 
tect, Don Antonio Velasquez, first Professor of Architec- 
ture in the Academy of San Carlos. It was badly shat- 
tered by the earthquake of April 7, 1845. The beautiful 
dome, part of the vaulted roof, and the chancel were de- 
stroyed — the destruction of the chancel involving also that 
of a curious fresco by Jimeno representing the fight be- 
tween the servants of the Archbishop and the people of 
the Cardonal. The miraculous crucifix (thereby doing 
violence to the precedents in its history of two hundred 
years earlier) was somewhat damaged. Pending the re- 
construction of the chapel, it was placed in the cathedral. 
The chapel was repaired under the direction of the archi- 
tect Don Lorenzo Hidalga (the work going on slowl}^ as 
alms for its prosecution were received) and was reopened 
May 9, 1858 — when, with very imposing ceremonies, the 
miraculous crucifix was brought back from the cathedral. 
The existing dome is one of the most beautiful in the 
city (though said to be less elegant in its proportions 
than that which it replaced). The church is maintained 
in somewhat painfully good repair, and the renewal of 
its hio-h and side altars in recent times has detracted 
from its antique picturesqueness. These modern altars, 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 235 

however, are handsome after their kind ; as is also the 
new chapel of the Soledad. On the north wall hangs a 
fine Coronation of the Virgin. Fortunately, the shape 
and proportions, with the imposing Corinthian columns, 
of the original chapel of El Senor are preserved. 

Santa Teresa la Nueva (O. 27). A church and con- 
vent of Carmelite nuns were founded by this order under 
the patronage of Don Esteban Molina de Mosquera (pa- 
tron also, as stated above, of the church of Santa Teresa 
la Antigua). The corner-stone of the church was laid 
September 21, 1701, and the church was dedicated Janu- 
ary 25, 1715-16. 

San Bernardo (M. 39). Don Juan Marquez de 
Orozco, a rich merchant of the City of Mexico, dying in 
1621, left his house and goods, valued at |60,000, to 
found a convent under the Cistercian rule. Fourteen 
years having elapsed leaving this bequest still unused, 
no nuns of the Cistercian order having come from Spain 
to make it operative, three sisters of the deceased mer- 
chant, nuns in the convent of Regina Coeli, together 
with two other nuns in the same establishment, ob- 
tained permission to live in the vacant building where 
Don Juan had intended that his nunnery should be 
founded. Here they established themselves in the year 
1636 : and thus was the foundation of the convent of 
San Bernardo laid. There being here no church, and the 
building being unsuited to convent pui'poses, a patron 
was found in the person of Don Jose Ketes Largache, 
at whose charges both were built. The corner-stone of 
the church was laid June 24, 1685 ; and the church was 
dedicated June 18, 1690. The present church building, 
into w^hich some portion of the older building was 
incorporated, was dedicated September 29, 1777. Upon 



236 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

the suppression of the convent the church was dis- 
mantled, and for a time was used as a storehouse. It 
has been reopened. Its fayade may be seen, as though a 
framed picture, from the northern end of the Callejon 
de la Callejuela — the little street running southward 
from the Plaza Mayor. The convent in part has been 
destroyed in order to open the Calle de Ocampo. 

Capuchin as. The first members of the order of 
Capuchinas in Mexico, coming from a convent of the 
order in Toledo, arrived in the capital October 8, 1665. 
These came to accept the bequest of Dona Ysabel de 
Barrera, widow of Don Simon de Haro, who in her will 
had bequeathed the house in which she had dwelt and 
$10,000 in money for the founding of a convent of this 
order. Upon their arrival they were received into the 
convent of the Concepcion until their own convent should 
be ready for their habitation ; and this building being 
completed they were inducted into it, with solemn cere- 
monies, May 29, 1666. The primitive church, built with 
a portion of Dona Ysabel's bequest, was replaced by a 
larger structure that was dedicated, September 11, 1756, 
to San Felipe de Jesus, the Mexican proto-martyr. In 
February, 1861, both convent and church were demol- 
ished in order to open the Calle Lerdo — an extension 
southward of the Calle de la Palma. All that remains 
now of this foundation is its name, that still designates 
the street on which the church of the Capuchinas faced. 

Corpus ChristI (I. 35). The then Viceroy, Don 
Baltasar de Zuniga, Marques de Valera, wishing to es- 
tablish a Capuchin convent into which should be re- 
ceived only Indian girls of noble descent (jilnas caciques 
y nobles) bought the property upon which the church 
and convent building of Corpus Christi now stand. At 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 237 

a charge of $-40,000 be erected the convent and cliurch, 
the corner-stone being laid September 12, 1720, and the 
church being dedicated July 10, 1724. On the 13th of 
July following, the sisters of the foundation — coming 
from the convents of Santa Clara, San Juan de la Peni- 
tencia and Santa Ysabel — took possession of the new 
convent. In order to enforce his wish that the convent 
should receive Indian nuns onl}^ Don Baltasar obtained 
from the Pope, Benedict XIII., a most peremptory bull 
(given June 26, 1727) commanding that only such should 
be received within its walls. In this convent was the 
custom that novices taking the veil should be dressed in 
the richest possible Indian costume, the ceremony be- 
ing one of the most distinctive sights of the Mexican 
capital previous to the adoption of the Laws of the Ee- 
form. The convent has been transformed into dwelling 
houses. The church, a small building without aisles, 
remains open. 

Santa Brfgida (K. 28). The order of Bridgittiue 
nuns (founded by Saint Bridget of Sweden about 1344, 
and introduced into Spain by Queen Ysabel, wife of Philip 
IV., October 8, 1734) was founded in Mexico by Span- 
ish nuns under the patronage of Don Jose Francisco de 
Aguirre and his wife Dona Gertrudis Roldan. By these 
pious persons the convent and church of Santa Brigida 
(the sole establishment of the order in Mexico) were 
completed, December 21, 1744, and immediately were 
taken possession of by the founders — who had arrived 
in the city on the 13th of September, 1743, and had been 
housed, meanwhile, in the convent of Regina Coeli. 
Upon the confiscation of church property the church of 
Santa Brigida was bought by a rich family of the city, 
and, being held in trust for church uses, remains o^^en 



238 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

for worship. It is too modem a building to be especi- 
ally interesting, and is maintained in a condition of such 
aggressive newness and freshness that it possesses little 
claim to consideration from the standpoint of the pic- 
turesque. But it is the most fashionable church in the 
City of Mexico. 

Enserianza Antigua (M. 29). The Compafiia de 
Maria, an order having in charge the preparatory teach- 
ing of girls, was founded in Bordeaux by Jeanne de Les- 
tonac about the year 1600 as a counter-stroke to the 
then recently established Calvinistic schools. The found- 
ers of the order in Mexico came from the convent of 
Bessiers, in Barcelona, arriving in the City of Mexico 
August 30, 1753. Pending the completion of their con- 
vent, they were housed in the convent of Begina Coeli. 
They purchased, June 22, 1754, for $39,000, certain 
houses in the Calle de Cordobanes ; and these, being 
modified to their purposes, they took possession of in 
the month of October following. On the 21st of Novem- 
ber the house was formally blessed by the Archbishop 
under this ample and imposing name : Nuestra Senora 
del Pilar de religiosas de la Enserianza, escuela de Maria. 
The church belonging to the establishment was dedi- 
cated November 23, 1754 At later dates the convent 
building was enlarged to its present proportions. It is 
now occupied in part by the Palacio de Justicia (M. 91), 
and in part b}^ the school for the blind. The church is 
open for Avorsliip. There are here some good pictures 
of the early Mexican school. 

Enserianza Nueva. This was a branch establish- 
ment of the Euseiianza Antigua, founded, under the 
patronage of the then Bishop of Durango, Don Francisco 
de Castafiiza, in the vear 1811. It was intended, exclu- 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 239 

sively, for the education of Indian girls. The institution, 
after being housed in several successive buildings, Avas 
suppressed bj' the Laws of the Eeform. The only trace 
of it surviving is the name of the street where it first 
was established : Colegio de las Inditas — the College of 
the Indian girls. 

College of the Sisters of Charity (J. 64). The 
large building in which the Sisters of Charity were 
housed, north of the Plaza de Villamil, was built at a 
cost of ^150,000, by Padre Bolea Sanchez de Tagle, who 
desired here to found a college in which Indian girls 
whose beauty w-ould expose them to temptations and 
dangers in the world might be educated and at the same 
time kept in safety. The building was not completed, 
and the j^hilanthropic project never was realized. But 
the name of Colegio de las Bonitas (the college of the 
pretty girls) usually shortened into Las Bonitas, always 
has clung to the edifice, and so it is generally styled to- 
day. After being used for various purposes, the build- 
ing was set apart for the Sisters of Charity. The found- 
ing of this beneficent order in Mexico was due to the 
patronage of Dona Maria Ana Gomez de la Cortina, who 
provided for the costs of bringing members of the order 
from Spain, and very liberally endowed the Mexican es- 
tabhshment. Twelve members of the order, from Mad- 
rid, arrived in the city November 15, 1844 ; and to these 
Doila Maria joined herself, taking the habit of the order 
and giving herself with them to good works. She died 
January 6, 1846, and w^as buried in one of the courts of 
the house which she had established — in which forlorn 
and dismantled place her handsome tomb may still be 
seen. By her will she bequeathed to the order the sum 
of $^141,000, which was lounctually paid by her executors 



240 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

within a month of her death. The church, La Caridad, 
still open, was built with a portion of this fund ; it is a 
small but elegant building, with excellent interior decora- 
tions in white and gold. It was dedicated — General 
Santa Ana serving as padrino (god-father) — May 8, 1854. 

The Sisters of Charity, during their stay in Mexico, 
had charge of the principal hospitals of the capital, 
and of many hospitals also in the other cities of the Ee- 
public ; and everywhere performed most effectively their 
good work. So highly were their services esteemed 
that they were by name expressly exempted from the 
operation of the Laws of the Reform. However, when 
the Laws of the Reform became incorporated into the 
Federal Constitution (by the act of December 14, 1874) 
the order of Sisters of Charity also was suppressed. This 
act was most violently denounced by the Conservative 
party, and was not by any means general^ approved by 
the Liberals. But in spite of the very active opposition 
that it encountered, it was made effective. During Jan- 
uary and February, 1875, the Sisters left the country : 
thus formally bringing to an end the existence of re- 
ligious orders in the Republic. 

Independent Churches. In addition to the cathe- 
dral and parochial estabHshment, and the foundations of 
the several religious orders, there are a few churches in 
Mexico which occupy an independent position in that 
they are the foundations of individuals or of societies. 
The more important of these are the following : 

Jesus Nazareno (V. 109). Under the name of Nues- 
tra Seiiora de la Purisima Concepcion this church (with 
its hospital of the same name, see Hospital de Jesus 
Nazareno) was founded by the Conqueror Hernando 
Cortes before the year 1524 ; as is proved by a reference 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 241 

to it in the municipal accounts of that year. After the 
death of Cortes (by whom an ample endowment was 
made for both hospital and church) his administrators 
contracted (November 26, 1601) for the completion, at a 
cost of $13,000, of the new church, begun in 1575 and 
then in course of erection. This work was not com- 
pleted at that time, and for nearly a century the church 
remained with its walls built only to the height of the 
cornice, and with only a portion of it under roof. Even 
this roof was defective, being of clay, in which trees 
grew and thrust out the lower walls. In the meantime 
service continued to be held in the primitive church. 
Such was the condition of affairs in the year 1663 when, 
a pious Indian woman dying to whom it had belonged, 
there came into the possession of the church and hos- 
pital a celebrated image of Jesus Nazareno. The imme- 
diate result of owning the image was a great increase of 
revenue from alms. At this fortunate time the chaplain 
of the hospital (named to that position May 22, 1662) 
was Don Antonio de Calderon Benavides, by whose 
energy the rapidly accumulating wealth was used for the 
completion of the church in a manner at once substan- 
tial and elegant. Finally, this church, begun in 1575, 
was dedicated with much solemn rejoicing in the year 
1665 ; then receiving officially the name of Jesus Naza- 
reno, by which it long had been known. Its exterior 
remains practically unchanged. The interior was ma- 
terially modified in 1835, when all the woodwork was 
renewed. The church contains a very large tabernacle, 
the four pillars of which sustain an entablature that sup- 
ports a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion. In the transepts are two altars, one dedicated to 
Nuestra Senora del Rosario and the other to Jesus Naz- 



243 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

areno — upon which latter the famous image stands. In 
the church are the tombs of the philologist Fr. Juan 
Crisostomo Najera ; the historian Don Lucas Alaman ; 
the sculptor Don Manuel Vilar, and Colonel Manuel Cal- 
deron. The sacristy is notable for its wooden roof beau- 
tifully carved ; a very elegant structure, and the last re- 
maining of the several which once were found in the city. 
In the church reverently is preserved — in a niche of 
the altar of Nuestra Senor de la Cadena — the image of 
Nuestra Seiiora de la Bala : Our Lady of the BaU. The 
legend connected with this small, very old, and greatly 
venerated image is this : In ancient times it was the prop- 
erty of a good poor man of the village of Ixtapalapan, 
who had made a shrine for it in his house. This poor 
man charged his wife with infidelity and threatened to 
shoot her. She threw herself before the image, imploring 
the Virgin's protection — and this was granted, for when 
her husband fired the image intercepted the ball ! So 
miraculous an intervention satisfied the poor good man 
that his suspicions had been groundless, and he restored 
his wife to her rightful place in his heart, and together 
they worshipped the image reverently. The fame of 
what the image had done w^as noised abroad, and pres- 
ently it was placed in the church of La Purisima ; where 
it was greatly venerated. In response to the prayer of 
Dr. Pedro Lopez it was given him, later, that he might 
place it in his newly founded church of San Lazaro ; 
where, performiDg many miracles, it remained for up- 
ward of two centuries. Finally it was placed in its 
present position, by order of Archbishop Labastida y 
Davalos, March 2, 1884. There are many married 
women of the capital who bold this miraculous image in 
very high esteem. 



RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 243 

Li the chancel of this church, beneath a handsome 
marble monument, also now in Italy, formerly reposed 
the bones of Cortes. By his will, Cortes ordered that 
should he die in Spain his bones should be brought in 
ten years time to Mexico and deposited in the convent 
of the Concepcion that he purposed building at Coyoa- 
can — but which, in point of fact, never was established. 
He died December 2, 1547, in the town of Castilleja de 
la Qaesta ; whence his body was carried in great state 
and buried in the chapel of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia. 
At the time that he had fixed for their removal thither 
his bones were brought to New Spain, and at first were 
deposited in the church of San Francisco at Texcoco. 
Here they remained until 1629. On the 30th of Janu- 
ary of that year died his grandson, Don Pedro Cortes, 
the last of the male line. It was then decided that Don 
Pedi'o should be buried in the church of San Francisco 
in the City of Mexico, and with him the bones of his 
grandfather. All of which, with much pomp and cere- 
mony, was done upon the 24th of February following. 
On the 2d of July, 1794, the bones of the Conqueror 
again were moved, this time to the marble sepulchre 
that had been prepared for their reception in Jesus Naz- 
areno, the church that he himself had founded. But in 
the troublous years of the revolt against Spain it was 
feared that his tomb would be violated — so great at that 
time was the popular hatred of the Spaniards and of all 
things Spanish — and that the remains of the. Conqueror 
might be preserved in safety they were removed from 
the sepulchre on the night of September 15, 1823, and 
hidden in another part of the church. Thence they were 
secretly removed by Don Lucas Alaman, the agent in 
Mexico of the Duke of Monteleone (heir to the estates of 



244 MEXICAl^ GUIDE. 

Cortes), and were sent to Italy — where at last, in tlie 
vaults of the Dukes of Monteleone, they were at rest. 

Nuestra Sehora de Los Angeles (C. 44). Concern- 
ing the founding- of the church of the Santuario de Nu- 
estra Senora de los Angeles, tradition tells that a cacique 
(chief) named Isayoque found floating upon the water, 
during the inundation of 1580, a beautiful picture, 
painted upon canvas, of the Virgin. Very much de- 
lighted with his good fortune, and desiring to do the 
Virgin honor, he built to contain the picture a little 
chapel of adobe on the exact spot beneath where 
he had found it floating upon the waters — that is to 
say, precisely where the sanctuary now stands. For 
some reason, however, the cacique decided not to keep 
the original picture in the chapel that he had built 
for it, but to have it copied very exactly by a skill- 
ful painter upon the adobe wall. This, therefore, was 
done ; and in the year 1595 a larger and handsomer 
chapel, though still a very small one (precisely the size 
of the chancel of the existing church) was built over the 
adobe wall on which the picture was painted. The new 
chapel was dedicated under the name of the Assumption 
(although, in point of fact, the picture represents the Im- 
maculate Conception) ; but, as there were many angels 
upon the picture, the chapel came in a little time to be 
known by the name of Our Lady of the Angels — which 
name remains and is recognized as that of the existing 
church. Not a shrine in Mexico has seen so many re- 
verses of fortune as have attended this one. It has been 
time and again abandoned and suffered to fall into ruin ; 
and once (1607), being then roofless, it passed through 
the inundation and precedent great rains by which the 
city was submerged. But through all its exposure to 



KELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS. 245 

sun and water and falling walls the hands and face of the 
picture (though painted upon sun-dried clay) remained 
unharmed — a preservation that came in time to be rec- 
oii'nized as a cumulative miracle. At one time and an- 
other various pious persons repaired the chapel, and at 
last, in the person of Senor Larragoitis, a patron was 
found by whom the present church was erected. The 
project of this patron was to erect a very large and hand- 
some church of nave and aisles surmounted by a dome ; 
but upon the report by the architect that the ground 
was too swampy to permit of the erection of such a build- 
ing, the plan of the existing church was adopted. This 
was completed in the year 1808. It is a quaint structure, 
having the appearance of being much older than it really 
is. The miraculous painting (at least the hands and face, 
which only are visible) continues in excellent condition. 
The other portions of the picture are hidden behind a 
dress made for it by a most pious tailor, Jose de Haro, 
in the year 1776 ; in which year he also rebuilt the 
chapel — then in one of its periodic conditions of ruin. 
As the picture, besides being thus draped, is inclosed in 
a glazed shrine, very little is to be learned by looking at 
it of the substance upon which it is painted. In the 
church is preserved a most dashing (but somewhat ruin- 
ous) life-size equestrian ef&gy of Santiago — brought 
hither from Santiagfo Tlaltelolco when that church was 
taken possession of by the government. There is also 
preserved here a stone, upon which is engraved the date 
1595, that is said to have been a part of the second of 
the several chapels built for the housing of the j^icture. 

La Santfsima Trinidad (O. 37). About the year 
1658 there was founded, close to the site of the present 
church, a heaterio — a^Httle house wherein holy women 



246 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

dwelt, voweel to good works but not to the rule of any 
especial religious order — dedicated to La Santisima 
Trinidad ; and here were housed (1570-79) while wait- 
ing for the building of their own convent, the founders 
in Mexico of the order of Santa Clara (which see). Ad- 
jacent to the beaterio there were granted (January 9, 
1596) to Francisco de Olmos and Juan del Castillo, al- 
caldes of the tailors of the City of Mexico, two lots of 
land ; upon which they agreed to establish a hospital 
for the poor, and a chapel, dedicated to the physician- 
saints Cosme, Damian, and Amado — which pious work 
was begun precisely fourteen days after the grant was 
made. Later, there was founded, in connection with 
these religious establishments, a society known as the 
Congregacion de los Trinitarios (Trinitarians). Upon 
these several foundations the present church (always 
spoken of as La Santisima) was reared. The second 
church of the foundation was dedicated September 19, 
1677, and the existing church, begun in 1755, was dedi- 
cated January 17, 1783. The building is notable for its 
exceedingly rich f ayade in the churrigueresque style, and 
for its fine towers. The interior is not especially inter- 
esting, having been made over in relatively modern 
style. 

Salto del Agua (T. 12). The license to collect alms 
for the building of the present church — upon a site once 
occupied by one of Fray Pedro de Gante's Indian mis- 
sion chapels — was given to Sr. Dr. Don Francisco Na- 
varijo January 7, 1729. But the alms came in slowly, 
and the corner-stone was not laid until March 19, 1750. 
In 1761 the church was made adjunct to the parish church 
of Santa Vera Cruz ; and became itself a parish church in 
1772, when the existing parochial division of the city was 



SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 247 

made bj Archbisliop Lorenzana, Its name is derived 
from its proximity to the fountain at the termination of 
the aqueduct from Chap ul tepee. The parish in which 
this church is situated, and of which it was the head, 
continues to be known by the name of the Salto del 
Agua ; the administration of the parish, however, has 
been removed recently to the old conventual church of 
Regina Coeli (which see). 



VIL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 

In the municipality of Mexico there are 89 primary 
schools, directed by 153 teachers, attended by about 
4,700 scholars, and supported by the Ayuntamiento at 
an annual charge of $127,000 ; also, within the munici- 
pal limits the Federal government sustains nine primary 
schools for children, two primary schools for, respec- 
tively, male and. female adults, and one graded school 
for girls, the total attendance at which is 2,700 ; also, 
within the municipal limits there are 24 primary schools, 
attended by 4,049 pupils, sustained by the Catholic So- 
ciety and other societies of the same faith ; 37, attended 
by 1,340 pupils, sustained by the Evangelical Church, 
the Lancastrian Society and the Beneficial Society. All 
the foregoing schools are free. Of private, paid, schools 
within the municipal limits there are 128, attended by 
2,900 pupils. Including the secondary and higher 
schools, and colleges, the total number of educational in- 
stitutions within the municipality is 288, with a total at- 
tendance of 15,754. Detailed information in regard to 
the schools and school S3^stem of the city and of the 
country at large may be obtained, by any properly pre- 



248 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

sented person, at the Ministry of Justice and Public In- 
struction. (See Government Officials, Presentation to.) 

Many of the buildings now occupied by schools and 
colleges possess such historical or architectural interest, 
or contain such works of art, as make them very well 
deserving the attention of the traveller. Mainly from 
this standpoint of secondary interest, therefore, the fol- 
lowing named institutions are treated of. 

Conservatorao de MCisica (Ex-University, M. 104). 
The University of Mexico was erected by a royal order 
of the Emperor Charles V. of September 25, 1551, being 
then granted the statutes, privileges, and prerogatives 
of the University of Salamanca. The institution was 
opened (vide Yetancurt) January 25, 1553, in houses 
adapted to its needs at the corner of the Calles Arzobis- 
pado and Reloj ; thence it was removed to houses the 
property of the Hospital de Jesus Nazareno ; and thence, 
finally, to the site occupied by the present building. 
The establishment of the University upon this site was 
attended with much difficulty. The land was a por- 
tion of the estate of Cortes, and the agent of the Mar- 
ques resisted the decree of the Audencia (June 1, 1584) 
permitting its purchase by the Rector of the University. 
After htigation, the right of the Rector was recognized, 
and the building was erected about 1590. The existing 
building was erected during the reign of Charles HE. — 
that is, previous to the year 1787. The career of the in- 
stitution was a stormy one ; frequently it was in collis- 
ion with the government, and several times it was sup- 
pressed. Its final suppression was in the year 1865, 
when this building became for a time the office of the 
Ministry of Public Works. In 1877 the Conservatory of 
Music was established here. The interior is notable for 



SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 249 

the beautiful cloisters surrounding the central court — 
now converted into a garden ; for the fine and artistically 
decorated concert hall ; for the handsome stairway ; and 
for the painting by Vallejo that is one of the three with 
which the stairway is adorned. Vallejo's work is a votive 
picture ordered in commemoration of the promise made 
by Clement XIV. to Charles III. to insert in the Litany 
of the Virgin the invocation Mater wimacidata. The 
lower plane of the picture shows a large edifice, in the 
midst of which are seen, kneeling, the Pope, Clement 
XrV., King Charles m., the Archbishop Lorenzana, the 
Viceroy Bucareli and, standing, Duns Scotus and groups 
of students ; in the upper plane, relieved against bril- 
liant masses of clouds, are seen the Virgin with the 
Four Doctors, Saint Paul and Saint Catharine (patron 
saints of the University), together with Saints Thomas, 
John of Nepomuck and Luis Gonzaga (patrons of study). 
The composition of the work has excellent quality, and 
upon it and the pictures in the church of San Yldefonso 
the reputation of Vallejo mainly rests. The Conserva- 
tory has a library and collection of music and is doiug 
admirable work in maintaining the musical standard of 
the capital. 

La Mineria (School of Engineers, K. 97). The Tri- 
bunal de Mineria was founded, May 4, 1777, by Don 
Velazquez de Leon and Don Lucas de Lasaga, having for 
its purpose the stimulation of mining enterprise, the cou- 
rection of existing abuses, the formulation of an improved 
code of mining laws, and the foundation of a school of 
mines. The laws requested by the founders, together 
with permission to create the school, w^ere granted in a 
royal order dated May 22, 1783. Pending the erection 
of a suitable building, the school was opened, January 



250 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

1, 1792, in a house adjoining the Hospicio de San Nico- 
las. The ground upon which the existing building 
stands was purchased March 14, 1793, and, after a con- 
siderable delay, during which other suggestions for hous- 
ing the school were under consideration, the plans for 
the building were presented by Don Manuel Tolsa, March 
16, 1797. These, after modification, being accepted, 
work began on the 22d of March ensuing, and the build- 
ing was completed, April 3, 1813, at a cost of $1,597,435. 
Scarcely was it finished, however, when the walls began 
to settle ; and this continued until they were dangerously 
out of line and in many places cracked. So considerable 
was the injury to the structure, and so costly were the 
plans suggested for restoring it, that at one time the in- 
tention seriously was entertained of demolishing it. For- 
tunately, at this juncture, the skilful architect Don An- 
tonio Villard presented a plan of restoration that was ap- 
plied successfully (at a cost of $97,000), in the year 1830 
— the school being housed, while the repairs were in prog- 
ress, in the present Hotel Yturbide. The curving lines 
of the cornices of the east side show how far the settling 
had gone before it could be staid. This building is con- 
sidered by all Mexicans, and with justice, one of the most 
imposing both in size and architectural treatment of the 
capital. It has fine courts, galleries, and stairways, and 
one hall of magnificent proportions. The decoration 
throughout, save in the chapel, is simple and in excellent 
taste. The chapel is decorated richly, containing a very 
elegant altar of bronze, and upon its walls and flat roof 
frescoes by the Mexican artist Jimeno. The school pos- 
sesses a serviceable library, an astronomical and meteoro- 
logical observatory, fine cabinets of geology and miner- 
alogy, and a museum of mechanical apparatus of con- 



SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 251 

siderable value. It was in this building, during Lis visit 
to Mexico in 1880, that General Grant was lodged. 

Escuelade Medicina (Medical College, L. 98). By 
a royal deci'ee of March 16, 1768, there was ordered to be 
established in the Hospital Real (which see) a course of 
i3ractical anatomy, under the direction of Don Andres 
Mantani y Virgili. To this, by a decree of May 20, ensuing, 
was added a course in operative surgery. The classes 
formed under these decrees began February 3, 1770 ; 
after which date degrees in medicine were granted by 
the Universities of Mexico and Guadalajara. A decree 
of November 21, 1830, extinguished this primitive medi- 
cal establishment and created the Medical Faculty of the 
District ; and this in turn was amended by the decree of 
October 23, 1833, that created the Institute of the Medical 
Sciences — virtually the existing Medical College. To 
the Institute quarters were assigned in the ex-monas- 
tery of the Betlemitas ; and by the ordinance of January 
24, 1842, it received its present name of Escuela de 
Medicina. From the Betlemitas the college was re- 
moved to the ex-monastery of San Hipolito in September, 
1850, and finally, by purchase (at a cost of $50,000), ac- 
quired its present building (formerly occupied by the 
Inquisition, which see) in 1854. The college has a fine 
amphitheatre, a committee room in which is a notable 
statue, by the sculptor Soriano, of St. Luke the Physician, 
cabinets of chemistry and natural science, and a library. 

Escuela Preparatoria (Preparatory School, M. 96). 
This institution, the function of which is to prepare ad- 
vanced pupils from the lower schools for the several pro- 
fessional careers, is the lineal descendant of an ancient 
Jesuit foundation ; and still is known x^oj^ularly by its 
ancient name of the College of San Yldefonso. In the year 



MEXICAN GUIDE. 

1582 the Jesuits in Mexico were commanded by the Gen- 
eral of their order to consolidate into one institution their 
several then existing seminaries. Some difficulties in the 
way of the execution of this order were overcome, and by 
license of the Viceroy (July 29, 1588) the colleges of San 
Gregorio, San Miguel, and San Bernardo were extin- 
guished and the College of San Yldefonso was founded 
in their place ; in which, January 17, 1618, the College 
of San Pedro y San Pablo also was merged. The pres- 
ent building was completed in 1749, at a cost of $400,000. 
During the several periods in which the Jesuits were ban- 
ished from the country the College building was used for 
various purposes, and was revived as a school upon their 
several returns. Since the final expulsion of the order 
the college has been administered by the government ; 
as it was also during the long period of Jesuit banish- 
ment between 1821 and 1853. The college building is 
of a severe style of architecture, massive in construction, 
and very large. Especially to be noted are its fine courts 
surrounded by arcades ; its handsome halls ; its cabinets 
of physics, chemistry, and natural history ; its palseonto- 
logical museum, and its well-selected librar}^ Two of 
the most important works by the painter Vallejo are in 
the sacristy of its chapel, " The Feast of Pentecost" and 
"The Holy Family." 

Other Important Schools. Escuela de Agricultu7'a 
(School of Agriculture, on the road to Tacuba). This 
institution, after many ineffectual attempts at its founda- 
tion (the first of which was made in the year 1833), 
finally was founded in the year 1854. It is now estab- 
lished outside the Garita of San Cosme in the hacienda of 
San Jacinto. It possesses a library adaj^ted to its needs, 
cabinets of physics and chemistry, a garden of acclimat- 



SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 253 

ization, and large grounds for practical agricultural train- 



ing. 



Escuela de Comercio y Administration (Commercial 
College, K. 101), is established in the building formerly- 
occupied by the Hospital del Tercer Orden, adjacent to 
that of the Mineria. It is provided with a library and 
collections of samples for practical study. 

Escuela de Jurisprudencia (Law School, L. 30) has ap- 
propriated to it a portion of the beautiful convent of the 
Encarnacion. The school possesses a good library and 
is well attended. 

Seminario Conciliar de Mexico (Catholic Theological 
Seminary, V. 99), was founded in the present Calle de 
Seminario in the year 1691. It is now established in 
the ex-monastery of San Camilo. 

La Sociedad Lancasteriana (Lancasterian Society). The 
monitorial system of Bell and Lancaster, by means of 
which it was considered that primary instniction could 
be much extended at little expense by setting the older 
children, as monitors, to teach the rudiments to the 
younger, was first practised in England in 1797. Under 
the patronage of the above-named society the system has 
been in use in Mexico for a number of years with excel- 
lent results. The first school was opened in the ex-In- 
quisition building in 1822. The Society supports, in 
addition to its day schools for children, night schools for 
men. The fund of maintenance is derived from con- 
tributions of members, and from a small subvention 
granted by the municipality. 

La Beneficencia (the Benevolent Society). The schools 
of this society were founded in the year 1842, by the 
philanthropist Vidal Alcocer — a working-man whose sole 
fortune was a salary of $30 a month. So zealously did 



254 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

this excellent man apply himself to the realization of his 
philanthropic project that in a short time a stable and 
affluent society was founded for its support. A number 
of well-managed schools are maintained. 

La Sociedad Gatolica. This organization was founded 
in the year 1869. It supports about twenty free schools 
and is prosecuting actively its educational work. 



VIIL CRARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 

It is most creditable to the municipal governments of 
the Republic that under all circumstances the schools and 
hospitals necessary for the public good have been in some 
sort maintained, and that the charitable institutions gen- 
erally have been cared for. (The Federal Government 
has not so good a record.) As a result of this admirable 
policy, veiy many of the ancient beneficent foundations 
of the City of Mexico — of the church and of pious indi- 
viduals — still survive ; while new foundations have been 
added as occasion has required. 

Hospital de Jesus Nazareno (V. 109). Under the 
name of Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion, this 
hospital, with its church of the same name (see church 
of Jesus Nazareno), was founded by the Conqueror Her- 
nando Cortes, before the year 1594 ; as is proved by a 
reference to it in the municipal accounts of that year. 
For the maintenance of the hospital Cortes left an ample 
endowment, but this was so badly administered that the 
ill-treatment of the sick in the hospital became a by-word 
in the city — thus impelling the philanthropist Bernardo 
Alvarez to establish the hospital that subsequently was 
known as San Hipolito. In later times, however, this 



CHAKITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 255 

reproach has been removed. The hospital has been 
much improved and enlarged in the course of the past 
three hundred years, but remains a most quaint and cu- 
rious building. It is maintained by the endowment be- 
queathed b}^ the Conqueror — all attempts by governments 
and individuals to break his will having failed. (So re- 
cently as the spring of 1885 the will once more was sus- 
tained by the Mexican courts.) 

Hospital Real (extinct, T. 69). A royal order, given 
in Madrid May 18, 1553, decreed that there should be 
established in the City of Mexico a hospital for the care 
of poor sick Indians. For this purpose a grant of 
$20,000 was made from the royal rents, against which was 
made also a charge of $400 a year in perpetuity for the 
hospital's support. That the building with its church was 
nearly completed by November 6, 1556, may be inferred 
from an existing royal order of this date granting $2,000 
more with which to finish it. For the purposes of the 
charity a large tract of land was set apart, bounded on 
the west and north by a wide water-channel (a part of 
the ancient system of canals) that now has been filled in 
and forms the street of Santi^imo and part of the street 
of the Eebeldes. The annual allowance of $400 a year 
being insufficient for the maintenance of the hospital, 
successive Viceroys imposed tribute for its support upon 
the Indians themselves. At one time the tribute exacted 
was a measure of corn ; and later this was made a medio 
— six and a quarter cents. But even thus aided the Hij^o- 
litos, in whose charge the hospital was placed, had to re- 
sort to urgent begging and to many curious expedients 
in order to discharge properly their trust. Among their 
expedients was the founding of a theatre, from per- 
formances given at which the hospital derived a very 



256 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

considerable part of its support. (See Teatro Principal. ) 
This extraordinary departure created much scandal, but 
the Hipolitos contended that while the means might be 
open to criticism the end was above reproach ; and so 
placidly continued during the ensuing half century upon 
their theatrical way. By a royal order of December 31, 
1741, the Hipolitos (possibly because of their irregular 
method of raising revenue) were removed from the hos- 
pital, and its direction was assumed by the Viceroyal 
government. In this hospital was organized the second 
medical college in America, a royal order of March 16, 
1768, providing for the establishment here of courses in 
practical anatomy and surgery ; which courses began 
February 3, 1770.* (See Escuela de Medicina.) From 
lack of a sufficient income, and from inefficient manage- 
ment, the hospital gradually deteriorated ; and finally, its 
usefulness having departed, it was closed February 21, 
1822. All that now remains of the establishment — the 
hospital having been replaced by dwellings — is the little 
church that once belonged to it, and that now is occu- 
pied by the Presbyterian mission. 

Hospital de San Hipdlito (I. 114). The pious Ber- 
nardino Alvarez, a native of Andalusia, sometime a pros- 
perous merchant in Peru and in the Province of New 
Spain, becoming tired of a wandering life, dedicated him- 
self to the care of the sick. For ten years he served as a 
nurse in the hospital of the Concepcion (now Jesus Naz- 
areno), and then, being pained by the ill-conduct of that 
charity, the desire came into his heart to found a hospi- 
tal of his own. Therefore he asked for certain vacant 
lands adjacent to the then chapel of San Hipolito ; and 

* The Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania 
was founded in the year 1764 ; of Harvard, 1783. . 



CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 257 

these were given to him, January 28, 1567, with permis- 
sion to found thereon a hospital that also should be ded- 
icated to San Hipolito. With his own property, and with 
alms that were given him for this purpose, he built there a 
little hospital, into which he gathered the crazed and the 
sick and the old ; and these he nursed and feasted {regal- 
aba) ! He even went to Vera Cruz and brought thence 
sick and crazed persons for his hospital, together with 
vagrant emigrants fi'om Spain who had no means of sup- 
port. In time various pious persons joined themselves 
to him in aiding to carry on this charitable work, so that 
it came into his heart to found a brotherhood that should 
have for its purpose the care of the sick. To this end 
he formulated in 1569 a constitution for the brotherhood, 
that was approved by the Archbishop of Mexico and sent 
by him for ratification in Rome. The project was ac- 
cepted by Gregory XIII., but formal approval of it was not 
given until May 1, 1585, by Sixtus V. It Was approved 
by the Council of the Indies January 11, 1589. A defect 
in this first organization, which became apparent very 
soon after the death of the zealous founder, was that the 
brothers were in no wise bound to their charitable work ; 
which looseness produced not a little inconvenience to 
the sick, who frequently found themselves deserted by 
their nurses and left to shift for themselves. To remedy 
this defect, the bull of Clement VKL, of October 8, 1604, 
ordered that the Brothers of Charity should take the vows 
of hospitality and obedience, and should be subject to 
the senior brother of the order : after which the sick 
people in the hospital found things much more comfort- 
able. The brotherhood became a regular monastic order 
(notable as a purely Mexican foundation) by the oj^era- 
tion of the bull of Innocent XQ. of May 20, 1700. The 



258 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

bull increased the vows to be taken to four — cbastitv, 
poverty, hospitality, and obedience ; gave to the order the 
rule of the Augustinians, with the privileges of the 
mendicant orders, and gave also certain very desirable 
religious privileges. From this time onward the Brothers 
of Charity in Mexico were known as Hipolitos. Shortly 
after the formal estabhshment of the order it was decid- 
ed to use the primitive hospital foundation exclusively for 
the care of insane males ; and for this purpose exclusively 
it has ever since been used. The existing building was 
erected in the year 1773, during the beneficent rule of the 
Viceroy Bucareli. By a decree of the Spanish Cortes of 
October 1, 1820, the order of Hipolitos was suppressed 
and its property sequestrated. The ex-members of the 
order having this hospital in charge, however, remained to 
care for it ; the last survivor dying in 1843. The liquida- 
tion of the property created a fund of upward of $187,000 
that passed into the control of the municipality, and the 
income of which was administered honorably in the 
maintenance of the hospital By a decree of February 
10, 1842, Santa Ana covered this fund into the Federal 
Treasuiy — and that immediately was the end of it. The 
municipality thereupon assumed and has since continued 
the charge of maintenance. In 1848 the interior of the 
hospital was remodelled and much improved. 

The large monastery of San HipoHto was converted 
into barracks upon the suppression of the order ; was 
used as a military hospital during a stray revolution ; as 
a municipal hospitid in 1847-48 ; as quarters for the 
Medical College in 1850-53, and since that date for less 
important uses. (See Church of San Hipolito.) 

Hospital Moreios (San Juan de Dios, I. 72). In 
the place where the Hospital Moreios (still commonly 



CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 259 

known by its ancient name of Hospital de San Juan de 
Dios) now stands, there was, in the year 1582, a little 
hospital for the care of the mixed races, mulattoes and 
mestizos. This charity, known as the Hospital de la 
Epifania, was founded by the philanthropist Dr. Pedro 
Lopez, founder also of the Hospital de San Lazaro, one 
of the first professors of medicine who came to Mexico 
from Spain. In addition to the hospital there was es- 
tablished here by Dr. Lopez a foundling asylum, under 
the protection of Nuestra Seiiora de los Desamparados 
(Oui' Lady of the Forsaken) ; and by this name both 
asylum and hospital were known during the ensuing 
twenty years. In the year 1604 there arrived in Mexico 
five brothers of the order of San Juan de Dios — the emi- 
nent order of hospitallers whose knowledge and practice of 
sanitary science as applied to hospital treatment was very 
nearly abreast of the highest authorities of our own day. 
(It was by this order that the, for the times, enormous 
advance was made of providing a bed for the sole occu- 
pancy of each sick person.) These brothers brought 
with them a royal order commanding the Viceroy to give 
into their charge the Hospital del Espmtu Santu ; but as 
this hosj)ital was in charge of the Hipolitos the Viceroy 
accommodated the royal order to the existing situation 
by placing them in charge (February 25, 1604) of the 
Hospital de los Desamparados — which thereafter was 
known by the name of their order and became once more 
a hospital only. Their arrival was opportune for the good 
maintenance of the charity, as the excellent Dr. Lopez 
had died in the year 1596. Under their admirable man- 
agement the hospital was materially improved and the 
church, some years later, rebuilt in its present handsome 
form (see Church of San Juan de Dios) ; and during the 



260 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

two hundred and sixteen years that the hospital was in 
their charge they administered its affairs in the most ex- 
emplary manner. In accordance with the tendency of 
the Spanish government to suppress worthy and useful 
religious orders while permittiog unworthy and useless 
orders to survive, the order of Juaninos was suppressed 
by a decree of the Cortes of October 1, 1820. Shortly 
after this decree was executed in Mexico the hospital was 
closed. By the exertions of private individuals, however — 
notably by the exertions of Sr. Don Gaspar Cevallos — 
the hospital was reopened March 8, 1845. It is now 
known officially as the Hospital Morelos, but commonly 
is called by its ancient name. 

Hospital del Divlno Salvador (K. 115). In the lat- 
ter part of the seventeenth century there was in the city 
of Mexico a pious carpenter named Jose Sayago, whose 
heart was troubled because there were found wandering 
in the streets of the city many crazed women of whom 
no one took thought or care. Therefore, aided by his 
pious wife, he gathered together into his own small 
house such of these as he could give place to ; and at his 
own charge cared for them. In course of time the fame 
of this most excellent charity came to the ears of the 
Archbishop, and he, Don Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas, 
enlarged and strengthened it by giving to Sayago, rent 
free, a larger house, and by contributing from his purse 
to the support of the crazed. In the year 1698, the 
Archbishop dying, and Jose Sayago being dead also, the 
Jesuit congregation of the Divine Saviour assumed the 
charge of the hospital. By them the present site was 
purchased, in the Calle de la Canoa, and here a new and 
large hospital was opened in the year 1700. Upon the 
suppression of the Jesuits, in 1767, the control of the 



CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 261 

hospital passed to the government ; when the building 
was greatly improved and enlarged, at a cost of $50,000. 
At this time, also, an improved system of treatment was 
introduced, under which many of the crazed women were 
restored to reason. Through all the changes of govern- 
ment in Mexico this excellent charity has been con- 
tinued. In the 3^ear 1861 its usefulness was impaired 
temporarily by the diversion of its revenues by the gov- 
ernment of Juarez. In 1863 its revenues were restored. 

Hospital de San Andres (K. 110). The existing 
hospital was established (in a building previously occu- 
pied by the Jesuits as a novitiate and known as the Col- 
legio de San Andres, because of the patronage in 1676, 
of Captain Don Andres de Tapia Carbajal) as a pest- 
house during a plague of small-pox in the year 1779. Its 
founder was the Archbishop Nunez de Haro y Peralta; 
and by certain concessions made by this ecclesiastic to 
the Ayuntamiento, when the plague was ended the foun- 
dation remained in his charge and was continued as a gen- 
eral hospital. By the Laws of the Reform the property 
passed to the government, and with it the very large 
outside estate that the hospital had acquired. Since 
this time it has been continued at the charges of the 
municipality. It includes a department for the free 
treatment of diseases of the eye. 

Hospital Municipal Juarez (San Pablo, X. 112). 
In August, 1575, the Augustinians having taken posses- 
sion of the site now occupied by this building, built here 
the College of San Pablo (see Church of San Pablo) ; and 
in 1581 built a chapel wdthin their college upon the site 
previously occupied by the parish chapel. Although 
this was an important institution for more than two cen- 
turies it fell gradually into decay ; so that in the early 



262 MExiCAisr guide. 

part of the present century a portion of its vacant build- 
ings was bought or leased by the government and was 
used as barracks. About the year 1847 urgent need for 
a municipal hospital arose — through default of payment 
by the Ayuntamiento of a debt of $80,000 due for the 
care of the city's sick to the Hospital de San Andres, 
and the consequent refusal of the custodians of that 
hospital to receive any more patients for whose charges 
the city was responsible. To meet this need, therefore, 
the barracks in San Pablo were fitted up provisionally 
for hospital purposes. The first patients received here 
were the wounded from the battle of Padierna — the en- 
counter with the American forces near San Angel of 
August 19, 1847. During the war the hospital was 
used by the military authorities ; but after the evacua- 
tion of the city by the Americans the project of organiz- 
ing here a municipal hospital was completed. The 
establishment of this institution was due mainly to the 
exertions of Dr. Jose XJrbano Fonseca. Later, additional 
portions of the ancient college property were purchased 
from the Augustinians ; and upon the sequestration of 
the property, in 1861, the whole of it was converted to 
hospital purposes. The Municipal Hospital of San Hipo- 
lito (used as such fi-om some time in 1847) was merged 
in it October 7, 1850 ; and August 12, 1862, the hospital 
of San Lazaro was merged in it. The official name of 
this institution now is the Hospital Municipal Juarez, 
but it is better known by its ancient name of San Pablo. 
Casa de Maternidad (I. 108). By an Imperial decree 
of April 10, 1865, there was erected a Council of Public 
Charities (Consejo General de Beneficencia) composed of 
ten persons, under the presidency of the Empress Car- 
lotta. By order of this council, and at the immediate 



CIIAIIITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 263 

and urgent suggestion of the Empress, the Casa de 
Maternidad (Lying-in Hospital) was estabhshed. It was 
founded by a decree of June 7, 1865, and so actively 
was the work pushed that on June 7, 1866, it was for- 
mally, opened. The hospital was built and furnished at a 
cost of 814,000, its appointments being in every way in 
conformity with the best French models. So great was 
the interest taken in this institution bv the unfortunate 
Empress that after her return to Europe she sent for use 
in it a very perfect set of surgical instruments ; and, 
later, 16,000 in money for its support. 

Hospital Concepcion Beistigui (T. 20). This ad- 
mirable institution, founded under the provisions of the 
will of the Seiiorita Concepcion BSistigui, was opened 
March 21, 1886, in the entirely remodelled convent of 
the Begina Coeli. It is the best arranged and best ap- 
pointed hospital in the city. 

Other Hospitals. There are several other hospitals 
in the city : the military hospital of San Lucas, and the 
excellent private hospitals, respectively, of the American 
(opened in 1886), French, and Spanish Benevolent Soci- 
eties. Contributions to the American hospital fund may be 
left with the Bev. John W. Butler, Calle de Gante, No, 5. 

La Cuna (Foundling Asylum, O. 107). La Casa de 
Sr. San Jose de Niiios expositos (known as la cuna — 
literally, the cradle) owes its origin to the learned and 
excellent Archbishop Lorenzana. It was founded Jan- 
uary 11, 1766, upon its present site, Puente de la Merced, 
No. 3, the building being purchased by the Archbishop 
and the charity sustained from his private purse until his 
return to Spain in the year 1771 ; while from Spain he 
sent for its support very considerable sums. The same 
interest was manifested in the charity by the succeeding 



264 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Archbishop, Don Nuiiez Haro j Peralta, who supplied it; 
with funds, and who, the better to secure its perpetual 
support, founded for its custody and administration the 
Congregacion de la Caridad. The constitution that he 
then prepared for its direction was approved by a royal 
order of July 19, 1774 ; and the same order declared the 
Archbishops of Mexico to be its rectors in perpetuity. 
By a decree of July 30, 1794, the children reared in the 
charity were declared legitimate for all civil purposes, and 
capable of enjoying all employments and honors open 
to good citizens of known birth. It was further provided 
that the children should receive as a patronymic the name 
of Lorenzana, at once to provide them with an honorable 
name and to perpetuate the fame of the excellent charity 
of the founder. So popular did this charity become that 
its endowment fund in the course of a few years amount- 
ed to upward of $200,000. Nearly all of this endowment 
was dissipated by the waste incident to revolutionary 
times, and the charity now is maintained at the charges 
of the municipality. It has accommodations for more 
than 200 foundlings. Besides caring for their material 
needs, the children are taught reading, writing, arithme- 
tic, grammar, drawing, sacred history. Christian doctrine, 
polite behavior ; besides which the girls receive instruc- 
tion in sewing, embroidery, and music. 

Hospicio de Pobres (Asylum for the Poor, I. 106). 
This very large and important charity, situated upon the 
Avenida Juarez nearly opposite the western end of the 
Alameda, owes its origin to the Precentor Dr. Fernando 
Ortiz Cortes. This worthy gentleman, sorrowing for the 
condition of the many poor in the city's streets, obtained 
a license — approved by a royal order of July 9, 1765 — 
that permitted him to gather them together and care for 



CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 2Go 

them. The asykim was opened March 19, 1774 ; and so 
rapidly did the demands upon it increase that in 1783 an 
annual gi-ant of $1,000 monthly for its support was made 
from the receipts of the government lottery. The build- 
ing was much enlarged by Don Francisco Zufiiga. Later 
the entire charge of the asylum was assumed by the 
municipality. The charity is divided into departments 
in which, respectively, old men, old women, girls, and 
boys are cared for. It has at present about 800 inmates. 
Monte de Piedad (M. 95). The National pawn-shop 
of the Monte de Piedad was founded by Pedro Romero 
de Terreros, Conde de Eegla, owner of the famous 
mines of Real del Monte, for the charitable purpose of 
enabling the poor of the capital to obtain loans on 
pledges for almost nominal rates of interest. Its effect, 
to the material gain of the poorer classes, was to break 
up the usurious rates of interest previously charged 
by private pawn-brokers. For the purposes of the 
charity he endowed the establishment with a fund of 
$300,000. His project was approved in a royal order of 
June 2, 1774, published in Mexico February 11, 1775 ; 
and on the 25th of February ensuing the Monte de Pie- 
dad was opened to the public in the ex-college of San 
Pedro y San Pablo. Thence it was removed to the Calle 
de San Juan de Letran ; whence it was removed finally 
to its present handsome building — erected for its accom- 
modation on the site previously occupied by the palace 
of Cortes — in the Calle del Empedradillo, just west of 
the Cathedral. Upon its foundation no fixed charges, 
or, indeed, charges of any sort, were made for its loans. 
Payment for the obligation conferred was left to the dis- 
cretion of the borrower, who simply was invited, when 
repaying his loan and receiving again his pledge, to make 



266 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

a gift for the maintenance of the charity. This benevo- 
lent laxity led to so much abuse that it became necessary 
to fix a regular rate of interest for loans ; but the rate 
was fixed at the lowest figure that would yield sufiicient 
revenue to meet necessary expenses. These exceedingly 
low charges always have been maintained ; the charitable 
purpose of the founder never having been lost sight of 
by the administrators of the fund. When, by bad man- 
agement, in the year 1814, the capital was seriously im- 
paired, being reduced to but little more than $100,000, 
the deficiency was made good and the original endow- 
ment regained. Subsequently to this, good management 
and careful investments raised the capital to upward of 
half a million. The average annual loans on pledges are 
in the neighborhood of $1,000,000, distributed among 
from 40,000 to 50,000 borrowers. During the adminis- 
tration of President Gonzales, in 1884, the capital of the 
Monte de Piedad again was most seriously impaired, and 
its charitable usefulness correspondingly crippled. From 
this blow it has not yet recovered, though on narrower 
lines the beneficent purpose of its founder still is ful- 
filled. 

Sales of unredeemed pledges are made at the Monte 
de Piedad and tourists will find this a very desirable 
place in which to look for bargains in bric-a-brac. As 
the articles are put on sale they are marked with a cer- 
tain price that cannot be lessened until a month has 
passed. During the second month a lower price is af- 
fixed ; and this monthly lessening continues until they 
are sold, or the sum that has been advanced ujDon them 
is reached. By keeping track of these marking down 
periods the searcher for bric-a-brac very often can secure 
great prizes for comparatively small sums. 



Charitable institutions. 267 

Colegio de la Paz (Vizcainas, T. 100). Tradition tells 
that one evening in the year 1732, three rich merchants 
of Mexico, Don Ambrosio Meave, Don Francisco Echev- 
este, and Don Jose Aldaco, all by birth Biscayans, were 
^valking• together in the waste place where now stands 
the magnificent building of the Colegio de la Paz. As 
they thus walked they met a party of unkempt, ill-clad 
little girls, whose evil language no less than their forsaken 
appearance pained deeply the hearts of these honest gen- 
tlemen. They asked the children if there was no school 
in that quarter of the town ; and the children answered 
that there was none. As they walked homeward, com- 
muning together upon the pitiful sight that they had 
seen, they resolved conjointly to build and endow a 
school into which girls thus uncared for might be re- 
ceived and carefully taught such useful knowledge and 
such moral truths as would fit them to lead honorable 
and useful lives. This project they at once put into exe- 
cution. The very spot upon which their charitable pur- 
pose was conceived they bought, paying for it the sum 
of $33,618, and the first stone of the building now stand- 
ing there was laid July 31, 1734 — which was then dedi- 
cated to San Ignacio Loyola, whence it derived its primi- 
tive name of Colegio de San Ignacio. By the year 1767, 
the founders had expended upon the institution, in its 
erection, furnishing, and maintenance, the sum of $583,- 
118, and since that date enlargements and repairs have 
brought the total cost to very nearly $2,000,000. The 
foundation, and the constitutional scheme provided for 
its conduct, were approved by Charles III. in a royal 
order of September 1, 1753, the charge of administration 
being confided to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Aran- 
zazLi — also a Biscayan foundation. From its control 



268 MEXICA]^ GUIDE. 

by this Biscayan fraternity, and influenced by the Bis- 
cayan extraction of its founders, the college came pres- 
ently to be known as the Yizcainas — by which name it 
continues popularly to be styled. Upon the extinction 
of the Brotherhood the college was taken charge of by a 
board of direction empowered to fill vacancies in its 
number subject. to the approval of the government. The 
institution has a considerable endowment, and receives 
also an annual subvention from the government for its 
support. The school, divided into primary and second- 
ary departments, is admirably managed, the course of 
teaching including, in addition to the ordinary branches 
of education, sewing and embroidery — for which latter 
the establishment is famous. (Persons properly presented 
may purchase specimens of this very beautiful work. ) 
There are at present about 300 pupils in the institution. 
On the execution of the Laws of the Reform the pupils 
of the Colegio de Ninas and the pupils of the Colegio 
de San Miguel de Belen were brought hither. The 
college building is one of the most extensive, substan- 
tial, and magnificent edifices of the capital. Within it is 
a handsome chapel dedicated to San Ignacio. 

Other Charities. 1. Escuela correccional (Correc- 
tional School) de Artes y Oficios was founded in the ex- 
college of San Gregorio by the governor of the Federal 
District, Don Ramon Fernandez, in the year 1881. — 2. 
Tecpan de Santiago, industrial school for orphans, 
founded, in the ancient building of the Tecpan de San- 
tiago, by Don Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza, in 1841. 
There are 1,300 scholars in the school. — 3. Escuela de 
Artes y Oficios para mugeres (industrial school for 
women) founded by the Minister de Gobernacion, under 
the auspices of President Juarez, in 1871. — 4. Escuela 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT. 269 

Je Artes y Oficios para bombres (industrial school for 
men), fouuded iu the ex-convent of San Lorenzo by Don 
Francisco Tagle. — 5. Escuela de sordo-mudos (school 
for deaf mutes), founded by Don Ignacio Trigueros and 
Don Urbano Fonseca in 1867. — 6. Escuela de ciegos 
(school for the blind), founded in a portion of the ex- 
convent of the Enseiianza by Don Ignacio Trigueros in 
1871. — 7. Asilo de mendigos (asylum for beggars) 
founded, in a building erected for this purpose, by Don 
Francisco Diaz de Leon in 1879. 



IX. PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT. 

Teatro Principal (K. 121). Toward the end of the 

seventeenth century the Brothers of San Hipolito, in 
order to obtain funds wherewith to sustain the Hos- 
pital Real (which see) founded, in connection with that 
charitable institution, a small theatre. In this little 
wooden structure plays were given by the plaj^ers whom 
the Brothers hired, to the very serious annoyance 
— as contemporary writers declare — of the unlucky 
patients ; for the performances made a prodigious noise ! 
And much scandal was created in the city by the spec- 
tacle of theatrical performances presided over by, and 
given for the benefit of, a religious order. On the night 
of January 19, 1722, the play of " The Ruin and Burn- 
ing of Jerusalem " was given, with " Here was Troy " 
underlined for the ensuing evening. But a part of the 
embers of Jerusalem remained after the performance 
was ended ; and early on the morning of January 20, 
the theatre was burned down. Among the common 
people the fire was looked upon as a sign of heavenly 



270 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

reprobation of the unlioly means of making money that 
the Brothers had adopted. In this fire a part of the 
hospital also was destroyed. Undeterred by their 
severe lesson, the Brothers rebuilt their theatre imme- 
diately ; and in the year 1725 they built once more, 
though still of wood, in a more desirable location^^ — upon 
the street then called the Calle de la Acequia, but now- 
known as the Coliseo Viejo. The entrance to this theatre 
still may be seen near the centre of the Portales. Finally, 
December, 1752, the present building was begun, being 
completed December 25, 1753 — and being that day 
opened with the comedy " Better it Is than it Was." 
The theatre belonged to the Hospital Keal until that 
institution was extinguished. It then passed to the 
college of San Gregorio by the decree of October 11, 
1824 ; and in 1846 passed into private hands. Very 
little of the original structure remains visible. The 
interior has been completely transformed, and the exist- 
ing fayade is a recent construction of the architect Ig- 
nacio Hidalga. It is very rarely that leading attractions 
are found here. 

Teatro Nacional (K 119). This is the principal and 
most fashionable theatre of the city. It was built after 
plans by the architect Don Lorenzo Hidalga by Don 
Francisco Ai'beu, and was opened in the year 1844. It 
has a seating capacity of 3,000, a large foyer, and a 
handsome portico. At this theatre at least one good 
Italian or French opera company fills an engagement 
of several weeks in the course of each winter, and other 
performances of merit are given here. It also is the 
scene of public functions — as the commencement ex- 
ercises of the Military School of Chapultepec — of popu- 
lar concerts, and so forth. 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT. 271 

Other theatres. The Ai-beu (T. 123), in the Calle de 
San FeHpe Neri, was opened in 1875. A company of 
Mexican plaj'ei's usuall}' gives good comedy or entertain- 
ing tragedy.— The Hidalgo (V. 122), in the Calle de Cor- 
chero, is on the same footing as the Arbeu. Neither of 
these theatres is fashionable, but both are wholly respect- 
able. — There are several small theatres, roughly built of 
wood, in w^hich performances are given on Sunday and 
feast-day afternoons to popular audiences. A great deal 
of human nature can be seen at these performances ; but 
the audiences are not of a desirable sort to mingle with. 

Salon de Conciertos, the concert hall of the Conser- 
vatorio de Musica (M. 104). Concerts of a high order 
of excellence are given here by the Sociedad Filarmonica. 
This little theatre is the handsomest in the city. 

Circus. A fairly good circus company gives perform- 
ances every evening, and on Sunday and feast-day after- 
noons in the Plazuela de Santo Domingo. 

Buii-flghting. As this pleasing pastime is prohibited 
within the limits of the Federal District, travellers desir- 
ing to witness it must go a-field in order to gratify their 
sporting tastes. Bull-fights usually are given on Sunday 
and great feast-day afternoons at Tlalnepantla, within an 
hour's ride by horse-car, or a half hour's ride by steam- 
car. Fights are given occasionally in Toluca on Sundays 
or feast-days, when special trains are run by the Mexican 
National Railway Company. 



273 MEXICAN GUIDE. 



X PUBLIC WORKS. 

Plaza Mayor de la Constltucion, the Main Plaza, 
in the centre of the city. In the primitive city of Tenoch- 
titlan a considerable portion of the present Plaza was 
included in the grounds belonging to the great temple. 
"When the present city was laid out, in 1522, after the 
temple had been destroyed, an open space was left here. 
In course of time, however, various small buildings 
were erected on this space, and the portion of it remain- 
ing free of buildings was occupied as a market. The 
present Plaza, therefore, dates from a royal order of 
January 18, 1611, that caused the market to be removed. 
A large number of small wooden buildings still re- 
mained in the southern half of the Plaza, but these, 
fortunately, were burned down. The fire, which took 
place November 16, 1658, began in a barber shop be- 
longing to a Chinaman (at this time Mexico's trade with 
China had risen to great proportions) and was fought in 
an eminently characteristic manner. The fire brigade 
consisted of the prominent clergy of the cit}", headed by 
the Archbishop, and the fire-quenching apparatus was a 
formidable array of holy relics held up in sight of the 
flames. The method was not a success : all the build- 
ings were burned. This portion of the Plaza being 
cleared, a still further clearance was made in the ensuing 
January, when all the fruit-sellers and bakers were 
ordered to betake themselves to the site of ihe present 
market of the Volador ; and in October a general clear- 
ance of the remaining buildings was effected, and drain- 
age trenches were cut leading to the acequia that then 
ran along the southern side. The reform was only tern- 



PUBLIC WORKS. 273 

porary, however, for presentlj'- the little shops all were 
back again. No less than 280 of them were erected — 
the rents derived from them by the city being more at- 
tractive than their objectionable presence was repulsive 
— and the aggregation of little buildings was known as 
the cajoncitos (shoplets) de San Jose. These were all 
destroyed in the great riot of June 8, 1692. In the year 
1692, following a bad season, there was a famine in the 
land, disposing the common people to mutiny. The 
actual beginning of the riot was the killing of an Indian 
woman by a vender of corn, a mulatto, as the result of 
an altercation that had arisen between them in regard 
to the price — for corn was more precious than silver in 
that bad time and the price was very high. The hus- 
band of the slain woman carried her body to his home 
in the Indian quarter of Santiago Tlaltelolco ; and there, 
showing her thus dead to his hungry and moody neigh- 
bors, and calling for vengeance, he found no difficulty in 
sowing the seeds of riot in the fertile field of their dis- 
content. Presently, at the head of a mob of two hun- 
dred, he returned to the city ; and he and his company 
sought to see the Archbishop and the Viceroy that they 
might have justice and food. But as these dignitaries 
of the Church and State refused to hold converse with 
them, the Indians presently assaulted the Archbishop's 
and the Viceroy's palaces with sticks and stones. With 
each moment came more Indians, swelling the crowd in 
the Plaza ; and as they grew bolder with added numbers 
they built fires at the doors of the palaces, and before 
the door also of the house of the Ayuntamiento, and 
these fires they fed with the wood whereof the little 
shops in the Plaza were built : and the end of it all was 
that the palaces and some other buildings were injui-ed 



274 MEXICAl^ GUIDE. 

and all the little shops, were destroyed. On this occa- 
sion the clergy made no effort to put out the fire, but to 
them the ending of the riot was due : for the canons of the 
Cathedral brought thence the Host, and at sight of this 
the tumult was stilled. The loss occasioned by the riot 
was upward of $3,000,000. In the fire were lost a portion 
of the archives of the city ; and all would have been lost 
but for the bravery of their guardian, Don Carlos de Sigii- 
enza y Gongora, who at the peril of his life brought the 
more precious of the records from among the flames. 

After this sweeping of the Plaza the Ayuntamiento 
erected upon its southern side a handsome stone building 
for the accommodation of merchants of the better class, 
that was completed April 19, 1703, and that was known 
by the Mexican name of the Parian (bazar) — and in a 
little while the venders of fruit and other small mer- 
chants asserted themselves as before. An existing print, 
of about the beginning of the eighteenth century, shows 
the Plaza thus encumbered ; and adorned — directly in 
front of the Vice-royal palace — with the gallows and the 
frame for the display of the heads of criminals, with a 
forlorn statue of Fernando YL, and with the cemetery of 
the cathedral extending far beyond the limits of the pres- 
ent atrium ; while along the Plaza's eastern and southern 
sides were open drains foul beyond words. Such was 
its condition when the Conde de Eevillagigedo became 
Viceroy in 1789. This very positive and energetic gentle- 
man reformed a great many things in Mexico, and the 
Plaza Mayor was one of them. He caused the open 
ditches to be made into culverts ; the walls surrounding 
the cemetery of the cathedral to be torn down, and a 
smaller space inclosed by stone posts and chains (some 
of which still remain) ; the gallows and array of crimi- 



PUBLIC WORKS. 275 

nal's heads to be removed, and the whole Plaza cleansed 
and set in order. Still further improvements were made 
by inclosing a large circular space with a stone wall and 
iron gates preparatory to the erection here (November 9, 
1803) of the equestrian statue of Charles V. (which see) ; 
subsequently removed (1824) for safe-keeping to the pa- 
tio of the University. 

Dui'ing all this time, a period of more than a century 
and a quarter, the Parian remained the seat of Mexico's 
richest trade. Within it the merchant princes of the 
city had great stores of all manner of gold and jewels 
and rich stuffs from the East. It disappeared in Decem- 
ber, 1828, in the midst of a revolutionary outbreak. 
For several days, following December 3, the robbing 
continued, no effort being made to check it by the revo- 
lutionary leaders temporarily in possession of the city. 
The stolen merchandise even was sold publicly, at very 
low prices, in the plazuela of Santo Domingo. In the 
history of Mexico there is no more disgraceful page 
than this which records the sacking of the Parian. When 
order was restored the merchants had no desire to re- 
turn to the unlucky building ; and from that time dates 
the establishment of the principal shops of the city in 
the streets of San Francisco and Plateros. In the j^ear 
1843 the Parian was torn down and its site became a part 
of the Plaza. The existing Garden of the Zocalo derives 
its name from the foundation [zocalo) that was laid there 
forty years or so ago, for a monument to Mexican Inde- 
pendence ; but the monument never got further than its 
foundation,* and the zocalo is now used as a music stand. 

* There is a precise parallel to this in the base of the Washing- 
ton Monument laid mortj than fifty years ago in Washington 
Square, Philadelphia. 



276 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

The Garden of the Zocalo is pretty in itself, but as it 
ruins the view of the cathedral its removal is to be hoped 
for. It was made in 1866, during the French occupation, 
and is an artistic mistake. The gardens on the western 
and southern sides of the cathedral, also are to be re- 
gretted, since they have lessened the size of the atrium 
and injured the general effect. The western and southern 
gardens have been made, and the flower-market erected, 
since the year 1880. The fight against the little shops 
and other disfiguring features still continues — the city 
fathers being tempted, as in the past, b}'' the considerable 
rents to be obtained from thus leasing the public lands. 
Only a short time ago, in the spring of 1885, the pressure 
of public opinion compelled the removal of a circus tent 
and a disreputable shanty-theatre from the Plaza del 
Seminario (where the book market now is), these struc- 
tures having for several years interrupted the beautiful 
view of the Sagrario that now can be had from the north- 
ern end of the Palace. Usually a band plays in the gar- 
den of the Zocalo in the evening ; the whole Plaza is 
lighted brilliantly, and all classes take here their evening 
stroll. The general effect is eminently operatic. 

Piaza del Seminario, an extension northward of the Plaza 
Mayor. It derives its name from the extinct Seminario 
Conciliar, formerly housed in a large building (part 
of which still exists) at its northern end. In this plaza 
is a curious and very interesting monument to Eurico 
Martinez, the famous engineer by whom the drainage of 
the valley was effected by the cut of Nochistongo. On 
a base, surrounded by an iron railing having bronze 
lamps at its angles, is raised a square pedestal of marble 
supporting a female figure in bronze, emblematic of the 
City of Mexico, modelled by the sculptor Noreiia. Inlaid 



PUBLIC WORKS. 277 

in the marble pedestal are bronze standards of the vara, 
metre, and yard ; the bench-mark (identical with that on 
the northwestern corner of the Palace) from which all 
elevations are computed ; a record of the level of the 
water in Lake Texcoco at various epochs ; the magnetic 
declination, together with other interesting engineering 
data. 

La Alameda (so-called because it was first planted 
with alamos, or poplars. The name is now applied very 
generally throughout Mexico to any large pleasure- 
ground or park). In a council held January 11, 1592, 
the then Viceroy, Don Luis de Yelasco, requested the 
Ayuntamiento to set apart a portion of the city funds for 
making a paseo for the ennoblement of Mexico and the 
recreation of its citizens. The Ayuntamiento, approving 
tliis request, set apart the place known as the Tianquis 
(market) de San Hipolito, a very ancient Indian market, 
for a pleasure-ground ; the tract embracing only that 
portion of the present Alameda that lies east of a line 
drawn from the church of Corpus Christi to the church 
of San Juan de Dios. And this place was planted with 
poplar trees ; was made beautiful with fountains and 
flowers, and was inclosed with a wall pierced by gate- 
ways. In the open space westward was the Plaza del 
Quemadero, so-called because there was erected the 
stone platform whereon were burned the criminals con- 
demned by the Inquisition (see p. 26). During the 
reign (1766-71) of the Viceroy the Marques de Croix, 
the quemadero was removed (though the unholiness of 
the act raised such a storm about the Viceroy's ears that 
the quemadero seemed in a fair way to remain and the 
Viceroy to be burned upon it for heresy !) thus giving 
to the Alameda its present shape and size : a parallelo- 



278 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

gram 1,483 feefclong, by 712 wide. It was still further 
improved by the Viceroy Revillagigedo who, in the year 
1791, encircled it with a high wooden fence through 
which access was had by means of wooden gates. In 
1822 the stone wall and iron gates which had inclosed 
the statue of Charles IV. in the Plaza Mayor were re- 
moved, and were erected around it ; a wdde, shallow 
fosse being made outside of this inclosure. Within 
the past few years the Alameda has been given its pres- 
ent beautiful appearance. The fosse has been filled in, 
the gates and wall removed (the last of the wall being- 
taken away in 1885), the numerous fountains placed in 
perfect order, quantities of roses and flowering shrubs 
planted, a handsome music stand built, and various other 
substantial improvements in excellent taste effected. In 
the course of this reformation one change in shock- 
ingly bad taste has been made : all of the picturesque 
gray stone benches have been painted in offensively 
brilliant colors ! The Alameda is the favorite morning 
walk for ladies and children. It is much frequented, 
also, by the students of the capital, who come to this 
quiet place to study. 

Paseo de la Viga, in the southeastern suburb, on the 
banks of the Viga canal. This ancient paseo is almost 
deserted save during Lent, when an old custom pre- 
scribes that fashion shall air itself here — a custom that 
with each passing year is less and less observed. It is a 
forlorn paseo now, having been sadly neglected of late 
years. About midway in its length is a melancholy bust 
(erected August 13, 1869) of Guatimotzin — the last of 
the Aztec kings. But for all its forlornness, it is by far 
the most entertaining drive in the vicinity of the city, 
the very picturesque adjunct of the Viga canal (which 



PUBLIC WORKS. 279 

see) giving* a cliaracteristic qualitj^ to it not to be 
found elsewhere. During Lent, and especially early in 
the morning of Thursday in Easter week (when the banks 
of the canal and the boats pl3dng upon it are buried in 
flowers), a more delightful drive than that along the 
Paseo de la Viga is not to be found. 

Paseo de Bucareli, or Paseo Nuevo, in the south- 
western suburb, was opened November 4, 1778, during 
the Vice-royalty of Don Antonio Maria de Bucareli — 
whence its name. The paseo has the same starting-point 
as that of the Reforma, the circular plazuela in which 
stands the statue of Charles IV., and extends almost due 
south from the city to the Garita de Belen, a distance of 
about half a mile. In the glorieta (the large circular space 
surrounded by stone benches) near its centre is a once 
handsome fountain surmounted by a statue of Victory, 
the whole (completed September 16, 1829) having been 
erected in honor of Guerrero. This paseo practically is 
abandoned. 

Paseo de la Reforma, in the southwestern suburb, 
the fashionable drive, and one of the most beautiful 
drives possessed by any city either in Europe or Amer- 
ica. The paseo, begun during the French occupation, 
is of ample width, two miles long, and leads in a straight 
line from the plazuela in which stands the equestrian 
statue of Charles IV. to the gates of Chapultepec — 
the castle standing out very effectively upon its craggy 
height at the end of the long perspective formed by the 
double row of trees on each side of the avenue. Be- 
neath the trees are broad footways, along which carved 
stone benches are disposed at short intervals. In the 
course of the two miles there are six glorieta^, each 400 
feet in diameter, surrounded by stone benches. Two of 



280 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

these already are adorned with imposing monuments, 
Columbus and Guatimotzin (see Monuments) ; in a third 
a monument to Juarez soon will be erected, and the 
others similarly will be devoted to the memory of men 
illustrious in Mexican history. The statue of Charles 
rV., at the beginning of this line of works of art (al- 
though foreign to the historic unities of the scheme as a 
whole) adds materially to the very impressive general 
effect. The paseo is the daily early morning and late 
afternoon ride and drive of fashionable Mexico. In the 
morning the pasear — usually extended through the grove 
of Chapultepec — is taken at a brisk pace and for its own 
sake ; in the afternoon it is a slow, formal performance 
over less than half the length of the paseo, and is taken 
for the sake of seeing and being seen. 

Calzadas (causeways). Three narrow causeways, 
north, south, and west, connected the ancient city of 
Tenochtitlan with the mainland. Eastward of the city 
were the far-extending waters of Lake Texcoco, The 
southern causeway, probably known as Acachinanco, 
forked at a point northward of the existing Garita of 
San Antonio Abad, one branch extending southwest to 
Coyoacan, the other southeast to Ixtapalapan. It was 
by the route from Ixtapalapan that Cortes entered the 
city, his meeting with Montezuma taking place in Huit- 
zillan at the intersection of the present streets of the 
Paja (or Hospital de Jesus) and Jesus. The causeway 
was enlarged in the year 1605. 

The western causeway, leading to Tlacopan (of which 
word Tacuba is a corruption) is identical with the cause- 
way now existing. This primitive footway, being the 
shortest connection with the mainland, was the first to 
be widened by the Spaniards after the Conquest. In 



PUBLIC WORKS. 281 

order to make a sure way of retreat the several cuts, so 
disastrous to them during the retreat of the Noche 
Triste, were filled in ; the path was broadened, and 
especial inducements were offered to house-building 
along the causeway to the end that a series of defences 
might be thus obtained. 

The northern causeway, leading to Tepeyac, now Te- 
peyacac is identical with the eastern of the now-existing 
two causeways leading northward. It was repaired and 
enlarged, under the direction of Fray Juan de Torque- 
mada, then guardian of the monastery of Santiago Tlal- 
telolco, after the inundation of 1604 — at which time all 
of the causeways underwent repair and enlargement, 
and the new causeways leading to Chapultepec and to 
the Piedad, were built. The western of the two cause- 
ways to Guadalupe, the Calzada Nueva, is of more recent 
construction. It was begun December 17, 1675, and 
was finished August 17, 1676, under the direction of the 
then Viceroy and Archbishop, Don Fray Payo de Eivera. 
This elegant work was ornamented by a large glorieta 
near its middle, and by fifteen beautiful altar-hke struc- 
tures of stone, richly sculptured, disposed at regular in- 
tervals, dedicated to the fifteen mysteries of the rosary ; 
in front of each of which the appropriate prayer was 
made by the pilgrims walking from the city to the shrine 
of Guadalupe. It is greatly to be regretted that this most 
curious and magnificent work has been suffered to fall 
into decay. The arches of the numerous little bridges 
along it have been broken down ; several of the beautiful 
altars have disappeared entirely ; the glorieta (restored 
about forty years ago) again is in ruins, and — crowning act 
of vandalism — the entire causeway has been turned into a 
railway embankment for the use of the line to Vera Cruz ! 



282 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Aqueducts. The water-supply of the city is prO' 
vided by two open aqueducts, numerous artesian wells, 
and a line of pipes (for the supply of the northern 
quarter) from springs near Guadalupe. The longer 
aqueduct, bringing the best water, is supplied from 
springs in the mountains of the Leones and near the 
Desierto, about twenty miles southwest of the cit^^o 
The aqueduct proper begins at Tres Cruces, four milea 
from the city, skirts the western edge of the park of 
Chapultepec and enters the city at San Cosme. Form- 
erly it was continued eastward from San Cosme to the 
street of Santa Ysabel — passing tlie Alameda and af- 
fording a convenient place from which to witness the 
burning of criminals condemned by the Inquisition. 
From San Cosme the water now is brought into the 
city through pipes. This important work was exe- 
cuted b}'^ the Viceroy, the Marques de Montes Claros be- 
tween the years 1603 and 1607, being then completed 
to precisely where it now ends at San Cosme ; it was 
extended to Santa Ysabel in 1620. It is composed of 
more than nine hundred arches of brick and stone, ris- 
ing from a solid stone foundation, and carrying a solid 
stone wall five feet thick, upon the top of which is the 
open channel. Its cost was $150,000 — probably little 
more than the cost of material employed. 

The shorter aqueduct, about two miles in length, 
similar in construction to the foregoing, brings the water 
from the great spring at Chapultepec to the southwestern 
quarter of the city. Its terminus is the handsome foun- 
tain, in the churrigueresque style, known as the Salto 
del Agua. Along inscription upon this fountain tells 
that the aqueduct was completed during the Viceroyalty 
of Don Antonio Maria de Bucareli, March 20, 1779. 



VARIOUS MATTERS OF INTEREST. 28',] 

Another inscription contains the statement : *' The course 
of this aqueduct is the same as that of the aqueduct 
made by the Aztecs in the reign of Chimalpopoca, who 
was granted the right to the water of Chapultepec by 
the king of Atzcapotzalco : to whom the Aztecs were 
tributary until the reign of Itzcohuatl (1422-33, a.d.) 
when they achieved theh' independence." A part of the 
aqueduct was torn down in 1886. 



XL VARIOUS MATTERS OF INTEBEST. 

Public Monuments. Among the notable public 
monuments of the city the oldest, and on some accounts 
the most interesting, is the equestrian statue of Charles 
rV., standing in the plazuela at the western end of the 
Avenida Juarez. At the request of the then Viceroy, the 
Marques de Branciforte, a royal order was issued, Novem- 
ber 30, 1795, granting him permission to erect this statue 
in the Plaza Mayor. The Marques formally assumed the 
charges of the work, but in point of fact nearly the whole 
of its cost was defrayed by the municipality and private 
individuals. The commission was given to the sculptor 
and architect Don Manuel Tolsa, and the casting in bronze 
to Don Salvador de la Vega. Pending the completion of 
the work, a wooden model of the statue, gilded, was 
placed on the pedestal prepared for it in the centre of 
the Plaza Mayor ; around the pedestal was a lai'ge glorieta, 
inclosed with stone seats and four handsome iron gates 
(now the gates of the park of Chapultepec). The mould 
and furnaces were made ready in the gardens of San 
Gregorio, and — after two days spent in fusing the mass 
of metal, nearly thirty tons — the casting was made at 6 
A.M., August 4, 1802. The casting, remarkable alike for 



284 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

being in a single piece, and for being the first important 
piece of bronze executed in America, came out from the 
mould complete and without defect. Fourteen months 
were employed in finishing the work, and on November 
29, 1803, it was raised upon its pedestal in the Plaza. The 
formal unveiHng took place, with great ceremony, on the 
9th of the ensuing December. Here it remained until 
1822 when, the feeling against Spain being very bitter, 
the glorieta in the Plaza was torn away — the stone benches 
and gates being removed to the Alameda — and the statue 
was inclosed in a great wooden globe, painted blue, so 
that the sight of it might not be an offence to patriotic 
eyes. But even thus covered the statue excited so much 
ill-will that, in 1824, it was taken down from its pedestal 
and placed in the patio of the University — a comparatively 
out-of-the-way jDlace, where it remained in genteel semi- 
obscurity until 1852. By this time the bitter feeling 
against Spain had so far passed away that the statue safely 
could be made public once more. It was then set up in 
the commanding position that it now occupies. It is, as 
has been said, a solid casting in bronze, weighing nearly 
thirty tons ; the height of horse and rider, together, 15 ft. 
9 in. The king is dressed in classic style, wearing a laurel 
wreath and holding in his right hand a raised sceptre. The 
horse is represented in the act of walking slowly, the 
left fore-foot and the right hind-foot being raised. The 
general effect of the work is heavy, but the lines and com- 
position are good ; the figure is well seated, and the ac- 
tion of the horse is excellent. Considering the circum- 
stances under which this work was executed — to say noth- 
ing of the difficulty of making an heroic figure out of 
such desperately ugly material as was afforded by this 
particular king — the statue is entitled to high praise. 



VAiaOUS MATTEKS OF INTEREST. 285 

The Columbus monument, in the Paseo de la Reforma, 
was erected at the charges of Don Antonio Escandon, to 
whose public spirit and enterprise the building of the 
Vera Cruz and Mexico railway was due. The monument 
is the work of the French sculptor Cordier. The base 
is a large platform of basalt surrounded by a balustrade 
of iron, above which are five lanterns. From this base 
rises a square mass of red marble ornamented wath four 
basso-relievos : the arms of Columbus, surrounded with 
garlands of laurels ; the rebuilding of the monastery of 
Santa Maria de la Rabida ; the discovery of the island of 
San Salvador ; a fragment of a letter from Columbus to 
Raphadi Sauris, beneath which is the dedication of the 
monument by Seiior Escandon. Above the basso-relievos, 
surrounding the pedestals, are four life-size figures in 
bronze : in front and to the right of the statue of Co- 
lumbus (that stands upon a still higher plane) Padre 
Marchena, guardian of the monastery of Santa Maria de 
la Rabida ; in front and to the left, Padre Fray Diego 
Dehesa, confessor of King Ferdinand — to the support of 
which two men Columbus owed the royal favor ; in the 
rear, to the right, Fray Pedro de Gante ; in the rear, to 
the left. Fray Bartolome de las Casas — the two mission- 
aries who most earnestly gave their protection to the In- 
dians. Crowning the whole, upon a pedestal of red mar- 
ble, is the figure of Columbus, in the act of drawing 
aside the veil that hides the New World. In conception 
and in treatment this work is admirable ; charming in 
sentiment, and technically good. The monument stands 
in a httle garden inclosed by iron chains hung upon 
posts of stone, around which extends a large glorieta. 

The Cuauhtemotzin (Guatimotzin) monument, in the 
Paseo de la Reforma, not yet completed, promises to be 



286 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

a worthy associate of the monument to Columbns. It is 
the work of the architect Don Francisco Jimenez, and 
very skilfully combines modern forms with primitive 
Mexican architectural detail. A bust of this unfortunate 
monarch, the last Aztec king, also is found in the old 
Paseo de la Viga, where it was placed August 13, 1869 — 
the anniversary of the final conquest of the city. 

The Juarez monument, the work of the brothers Islas, 
marking the grave of the great President in the cemetery 
of San Fernando, is entitled to almost unqualified praise. 
The design comprehends a Grecian temple of marble, 
small but well proportioned, without interior walls and 
surrounded by rows of columns. On the base thus pro- 
tected but not obscured is the commemorative group : 
the dead President stretched at full length, his head 
supported on the knee of a mourning female figure of 
Mexico. There is a simplicity, a nobility, a freedom 
from conventionaHsm, in this work that, joined with its 
excellent technical qualities and its full expression of 
heroic grief, makes it most impressive as a monumental 
marble and to a high degree satisfying as a work of art. 

In the plazuela de Morelos, between the churches of 
Santa Vera Cruz and San Juan de Dios is a statue in 
marble of the hero-priest Morelos, the work of the 
sculptor Piati. It is interesting as having been erected 
during the French occupation — though ordered before 
that time — and as having been unveiled by Maximilian, 
September 30, 1865, on the one hundredth anniversar}" 
of the patriot's birth. In the plaza of San Fernando is a 
bronze statue of the patriot Guerrero, modelled by the 
sculptor Norena and cast in Mexico. 

Notable Buildings. North of the Calle del Parque 
del Conde, facing the Hotel Humboldt and close by the 



VARIOUS MATTERS OF INTEREST. 287 

Hospital de Jesus, is the quaintly magnificent house 
once owned by the Condes de Santiago, one of the most 
noble families of New Spain, The house is three stories 
in height and gains distinct individuality from the 
stone water-spouts, wrought in the form of cannon, pro- 
jecting from its battlements. The doors of the main 
entrance are richly carved, the central carving being the 
arms of the family. In the interior is a large and hesm- 
tiiu\2Mf.io. The lower floors of the building are now 
used as shops. In the rear of the house formerly were 
extensive grounds, the parque, whence the adjacent 
street derives its name. 

The building in the First Calle de San Francisco, pop- 
ularly known as the Palace of Yturbide (occupied since 
1855 as a hotel), a ponderous and rather dismal struc- 
ture, was erected by the Marquesa de San Mateo Val- 
paraiso in the last century. This estimable lady was 
possessed of a very large fortune and by a strong de- 
termination that her lawful heirs should derive no bene- 
fit from it. Therefore she built this palace, apparently 
believing that no one ever would be found who willingly 
would live in it. The land upon which it stands had 
belonged to the convent of Santa Brigida, and a convent 
would have been built here but for the Marquesa's whim. 
The building is notable as having been occupied by the 
Emperor Yturbide during his ephemeral reign. 

On the northern side of the causeway leading to Ta- 
cuba, a short distance outside the Garita of San Cos me, 
is the casa de los mascarones, so called because of its 
curious grotesque ornamentation, of which stone masks 
are a conspicuous feature. This highly original dwell- 
ing was begun by Don Jose de Mendoza, Conde del 
Valle de Orizaba, but at the time of his death, in the 



288 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

year 1771, only the extraordinary exterior was com- 
pleted. Upon this he had spent $100,000. For a long 
while it was suffered to fall into decay, being even used 
as a stable. In the year 1824 it was sold at auction for 
a small sum and was made habitable ; not being finished, 
however, in accordance with the original plans. A more 
delightfully irrational dwelling than this is never was 
devised by mortal man. 

In the house No. 3, Calle de San Agustin, Humboldt 
lived during his sojourn, in the year 1803, in the City of 
Mexico. The tablet commemorating this fact was 
erected by German residents of the city on the one hun- 
dredth anniversary of Humboldt's birth, Sept. 14, 1869. 

Near the western end and upon the southern side of 
the Puente de Alvarado is a house noticeable because of 
the recessed curve of its front, its walled-up windows 
on the ground floor, and the glimpse to be had through 
its locked iron gates of a great tangled but beautiful 
garden in the rear. It was originally the property of the 
Seiiora Dona Victoria Eul de Perez Galvez ; but is more 
noteworthy as having been owned for a time by Bazaine. 

On the First Calle de San Francisco, with its western 
side upon the plazuela de Guardiola, is the very beauti- 
ful casa de azulejos — tiled house — built by the Conde del 
Valle de Orizaba, probably early in the last century. As 
an architectural curiosity, and as a work of art, this house 
is unique in Mexico. 

Among the other buildings which command attention 
either by their size or their beauty, or by both combined, 
are : The Banco Nacional, at the corner of the Puente 
del Espiritu Santo and the Calle de Capuchinas ; the 
dwelling of the Escandon family, fronting upon the 
plazuela de Guardiola ; and the Vera Cruz railway station. 



VARIOUS MATTERS OF INTEREST. 289 

Throughout the whole city, but especially in the regions 
adjacent to the Hospital de Jesus, the Cathedral, and the 
church of Santo Domingo, manj^ old houses will be found 
adorned with carvings in stone and wood, stucco-work, 
and wrought iron, the sight of which will warm an artist's 
heart. 

Panteones (cemeteries). The most renowned ceme- 
tery in Mexico, that of San Fernando, adjoining the 
church of the same name, is closed to the pubhc. The 
attendant in charge, however, usually permits strangers 
to enter ; in return for which courtesy (and not because 
a fee is expected) a present of a real will not be out of 
place. Here are buried some of the men most illus- 
trious in Mexican history : Juarez, Guerrero, Miramon, 
Zaragoza, Comonfort, and others only less famous. Ex- 
cepting the noble tomb of Juarez (see Public Monu- 
ments), a work of which any nation might well be proud 
as fitly marking a glorious grave, the tombs in San Fer- 
nando are conventional and for the most part in very 
bad taste. 

In the open cemetery of Dolores, on the hill-side south- 
west of Tacubaya (Tacubaya car to the station just be- 
yond Chapultepec, whence a smaller car runs direct to 
the cemetery) are many beautiful tombs, and much taste 
has been shown in laying out the grounds. 

The French cemetery (reached by the Piedad line of 
cars) also contains a number of fine tombs. The Eng- 
lish and American cemeteries He together in the Tlax- 
pana, and are reached by the tramway to that suburb ; 
in the American cemetery are buried more than four 
hundred American soldiers who died in Mexico in 1847. 
A small cemetery is attached to the chapel of Guadalupe 
that, being an especially holy place of burial, contains 



290 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the remains of many illustrious personages. Other im- 
portant cemeteries are : San Diego, San Pablo, Piedad, 
Salinas, los Angeles and Campo Florido. 

El Salto de Aivarado (Alvarado's Leap). A little 
west of the middle of the Puente de Aivarado the line of 
house -fronts is broken by a recessed space that is shut 
off from the street by a low wall, surmounted by an iron 
gTating. Tradition declares that precisely at this point 
in the primitive causeway, leading from Tenochtillan 
westward, was the break across which, during the re- 
treat of the Noche Triste, Aivarado made his famous 
leap. 



XII. ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 

Guadalupe. In primitive times an Aztec divinity, 
Tonantzin (" the Mother of Gods "), was worshipped at a 
shrine where the capilla del cerrito of Guadalupe now 
stands. The chronicler Fray AgTistin de Vetancurt 
(tempo 1672) thus describes the miracle that occurred to 
change the worship of the pagan mother of gods to wor- 
ship of the Christian God-mother : Juan Diego, a native 
of Cuauhtitlan, who lived with his wife Lucia Maria in 
the town of Tolpetlac, went to hear mass in the church 
of Santiago Tlaltelolco on the moining of Saturday, De- 
cember 9, 1531. As he was near the hill called Tepeya- 
cac he heard the music of angels. Then beheld he amid 
splendors, a Lady who spoke to him, directing him to go 
to the Bishop and tell that it was her will that in that 
place should be built to her a temple. Upon his knees 
he listened to her bidding, and then, happ^^ and confused, 
betook himself to the Bishop with the message that she 
had given him. But while the Bishop, Don Juan Zumar- 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 291 

raga, heard him with benignity he could not give credence 
to the prodigy that he was told. With this disconsolate 
answer he returned, finding there again the Lady ; who 
heard what he had to tell and bade him come to her again. 
Therefore on the Sunday ensuing he was at the hill-side, 
when she appeared to him for the third time and repeated 
her order that he should convey to the Bishop her com- 
mand that the temple should be built. The Bishop heard 
the message, still incredulously, and ordered that the In- 
dian should bring some sure sign by which might be 
shown that what he told was true : and when the Indian 
departed the Bishop sent two of his servants to watch him 
secretly ; yet as he neared the holy hill he disappeared 
from the sight of these watchers ! Unseen, then, of these, 
he met the Lady and told that he had been required to 
bring some sure sign of her appearance ; and she told him 
to come again the next day and he should have that sign. 
Bat when he came to his home he found there his uncle, 
Juan Bernardino, lying very ill [having that fever which 
the Indians call cocoUxtli]. Through the next day he was 
busied in attendance upon the sick man ; but the sick- 
ness increased, and early on the morning of December 
12th he went to call from Tlaltelolco a confessor. That he 
might not be delayed in his quest by that Lady's impor- 
tunities, he went not by the usual path, but by another 
skirting the eastern side of the hill. But as he passed 
the hill he saw the Lady coming down to him and heard 
her calling to him. He told her of his errand, and of its 
urgent need for quickness, whereupon she replied that 
he need not feel further trouble as already his uncle's 
illness was cured. Then ordered she him to cut some 
flowers in that barren hill, and to his amazement he per- 
ceived flowers growing there. She charged him to take 



292 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

these miraculous flowers to tlie Bishop as the sign that 
he had requested ; and she commanded that Juan Diego 
should show them to no other until they were seen of the 
Bishop's eyes. Therefore he wrapped them in his tilma, 
or blanket, and hastened away. And then, from the spot 
where most holy Mary stood, there gushed forth a spring 
of brackish water, which now is venerated and is an anti- 
dote to infirmities. Juan Diego waited at the entrance 
of the Bishop's house until he should come out, and when 
he appeared and the flowers were shown him, there was 
seen the image of the Virgin beautifully painted upon the 
Indian's tihna ! The Bishop placed the miraculous pic- 
ture in his oratory, venerating it greatly ; and Juan Diego 
returning to his home with two servants of the Bishop, 
found that his uncle had been healed of his sickness in 
the very hour that the Virgin declared that he was 
well. As quickly as possible the Bishop caused a chapel 
to be built upon the spot where the Virgin had appeared 
and where the miraculous roses had sprung up from the 
barren rock ; and here he placed the holy image on the 
7th of February, 1532. Juan Diego and his uncle Bernar- 
dino became the servants of the Virgin in this sanctuary ; 
and Juan Diego, being moved by a sermon preached 
by the venerable Fray Toribio Motolinia, and his wife 
Lucia Maria consenting and taking a like vow, took there 
the vow of chastity. Thenceforth he lived in a little house 
beside the chapel ; and there he died a most Christian 
death in the year 1548. 

The Papal sanction of the apparition followed in due 
order of gradation, from recognition to entire approval. 
In 1663 Alexander VII. admitted the relation of the 
apparition and ordered its investigation by the Congre- 
gation of Eites, preparatory to granting the request pre- 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 293 

f erred by the cliurcli in Mexico that the 12th of De- 
cember should be set apart in perpetuity as a day of holy 
festival in the Mexican Virgin's honor. Pending further 
inquiry, Clement IX. conceded (1667) a plenar^^ jubilee 
to be held upon this date. For nearly a century the 
festival was continued on this basis, during which period 
the Vii'gin of Guadalupe received recognition in various 
ways from successive Popes, but the formal and official 
recognition and indorsement of the miracle by the Con- 
gregation of Rites still was withheld. In the meantime 
the Mexicans on their own account had made this Vir- 
gin their Patron Saint. In recognition of the protection 
that she had afforded during the dreadful pestilence, 
known as the matlazahuati, of 1736, the ecclesiastical and 
secular chapters, representing the church and the peo- 
ple, solemnly elected her their patroness. At last, 
through the exertions of the Jesuit Father Lopez, sent 
expressly for this purpose to Rome, the long-delayed 
confirmation of the mu-acle by the Congregation of Rites 
was accorded — though somewhat grudgingly — in the 
Papal buU of May 25, 1754. By this buU the festival of 
December 12th officially was instituted, and the Virgin 
of Guadalupe was declared to be the Patroness and Pro- 
tectress of New Spain. Being so essentially a Mexican 
divinity, the Guadalupe Virgin was looked upon as the 
especial champion of the Mexicans in their revolt against 
Spanish dominion ; and the more so because the stand- 
ard around which Hidalgo rallied the first army of revo- 
lutionists was a banner whereon this Virgin was blaz- 
oned. " Guadalupe " became the war-cry of the rebels, 
as "Remedios" (which see), the especially Spanish Vir- 
gin, was the war-cry of the loyalists. The conspicuous 
part thus borne by the Mexican Virgin in the war for 



294 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

independence, and the bappy issue that her assistance 
gave to that con:flict, still further endeared her to the 
Mexican people ; and one of the very first acts of the 
Congress of the new Republic (November 27, 1824) de- 
creed the festival of December 12th a national holiday. 
The Virgin of Guadalupe therefore has attaching to her a 
political significance quite as important as the signifi- 
cance that attaches to her in her religious capacity. She 
is at once an embodiment of the national character and 
the defender of the nation's Hfe — an abstract and con- 
crete divinity such as might result from infusing super- 
natural power into a mass composed of Queen Victoria 
and the British Lion. Above all, she is the divinity of 
the Indians. The festival of December 12th is cele- 
brated with enthusiasm by the Indians throughout the 
Republic ; and thousands of them each year make long 
pilgrimages that they may be present on that day at the 
Virgin's shrine. So completely is the Indian character 
of the festival recognized that the church is wholly given 
up to the Indian worshippers. In it they conduct their 
celebration, unhampered by priests, in their own way : 
but whether or not there survives in their rites any trace 
of the worship of Tonantzin, "the Mother of Gods," is a 
curious question that need not be raised here. A cele- 
bration of a more orthodox sort, less original but more 
imposing, in which the Archbishop and the higher 
clergy of the See take part, takes place on the 12 th of 
January. Other especially Indian festivals are cele- 
brated on the 22d of November ; almost every day in 
December, but most notably on the 3d (the novenay^io of 
the 12th) ; and on the 12th of every month throughout 
the year. 

At a distance of about two miles and a half north from 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 295 

the city (reached by horse-cars startiug from in front of 
the Cathedral) is the collegiate church of Nuestra Sefiora 
de Guadalupe. The church stands at the foot of the hill, 
on the site of the fourth apparition of the Virgin to Juan 
Diego. It is a comparatively modern structure, and the 
fourth erected for the housing of the miraculous image. 
The first was built by Bishop Zumarraga, as told above, 
and about forty years later this first chapel was very con- 
siderably enlarged. It is still in use, being now the sa- 
cristy of the parish church. At the beginning of the 
seventeenth century a new and large church was erected 
upon the site occupied by the present collegiate church ; 
which, being completed at a cost of $50,000, was dedi- 
cated, and the miraculous image was placed in it, in 
November, 1622. In 1695 the present parish church 
was built, being intended as a temporary' abiding-place 
for the image while a new and grander church was 
building. Work upon this latter edifice, the existing 
collegiate church, began at once, and it Avas completed 
and dedicated with great solemnity May 1, 1709. It is 
184 feet long by 122 feet wide, covered by a vaulted 
roof that rests upon two rows of Corinthian columns — 
by which the aisles are divided from the nave. The 
whole is surmounted by a dome, the lantern of which is 
125 feet above the floor. The very plain fa9ade is flanked 
by towers 110 feet high. The interior, unusually well 
lighted, is finished in white and gold. The magnificent 
high altar and tabernacle are made from designs pre- 
pared by the architect Tolsa about the year 1802 ; but 
the revolutionary troubles that began in 1810 and con- 
tinued until 1821 so delayed the progress of the work 
that the altar actually was not completed until the year 
1836. The structure is of marbles of various colors, 



296 MEXICAIS" GUIDE. 

joined with good effects of harmony and contrast. The 
cost of the work, together with other renovations of the 
church then made, was $381,000. The primitive cost 
was more than $800,000 — all alms-offerings — :making a 
total of $1,181,000. The value of the jewels, gold and 
silver plate and other rich belongings of this church 
— nearly all of which have passed into the possession of 
the government — safely may be estimated at two mill- 
ions more. In the tabernacle, in a frame of mingled 
gold and silver, inclosed with plate-glass, is preserved 
the miraculous image. The picture, somewhat conven- 
tional in type, is good in drawing and still retains much 
strength of coloring. The material apoii which it is 
painted is a coarse cloth woven of ixtli fibre. The me- 
dium cannot be determined — at least not by examination 
through the glass covering. It does not seem to be dis- 
temper, water-color or oil-color, though more suggestive 
of oil-color than of either of the others ; and this fact of 
its lack of resemblance to the effects of the ordinary 
methods of painting is one of the strong practical points 
urged in favor of its miraculous origin. The picture has 
been examined twice, the glass covering being removed 
on these occasions, by Mexican painters of high standing, 
and on each occasion the method by which the picture 
was made has remained undetermined. The chancel, 
and the passage-way between the chancel and the choir, 
are inclosed by a massive silver railing set upon a base 
of pure white marble, the whole being the gift of the 
Viceroy Bucareli — who lies buried in the west aisle. The 
choir, set in the nave, after the Spanish fashion, and seri- 
ously marring the general interior effect, is a very elegant 
structure especially rich in fine carvings in mahogany. 
There are two rows of stalls, also of richly carved ma- 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 297 

hogany, still further ornamented with carvings in ebony. 
Above the stalls are basso-i^elievos, carved in wood, illus- 
trating the litany of the Virgin. In the sacristy are 
more fine carvings, two curious tables of Mexican onyx, 
and a number of curious and a few very good pictures. 
The best of the pictures, and one of the best pictures in 
Mexico, is a magnificent Crucifixion — hung in an atro- 
cious light on the north wall. The church became col- 
legiate * in 1749, an ample endowment for this purpose 
having been provided by several rich, patrons. The 
chapter house, built at this period, adjoins the church 
on the north. 

Capilla del Gerrito. — This ^' chapel of the little hill" 
marks the spot where Juan Diego cut the roses which 
sprang up there from the hard stone in order that the 
Bishop might be convinced. For many years the spot 
was marked only by a rude wooden cross. In the year 1660 
a Uttle chapel was built here by Cristobal de Aguirre, who 
endowed it with the sum of $1,000 that there might be 
held here every year on the 12th of December a solemn 
service in commemoration of the Virgin's appearance. 
The present chapel was built at the beginning of the 
eighteenth century by the Presbitero Don Juan de Mon- 
tiifar, who built also the stairway and path leading up 
the hill. On the line of this stabway, near the top of the 
hill, is built in stone the semblance of a ship's mast and 
sails. The date at which this curious structure was 
erected is unknown, but there seems no reason for doubt- 
ing that the story told of it is true : That certain mari- 
ners, being in dire straits at sea, their ship tempest-tost 

* A collegiate eliurcli is a eliurcli in which, while not the seat 
of an archbishop's or bishop's see, the organization is the same as 
that of a cathedral. 



298 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

and rudderless, vowed that should the Virgin of Guada- 
lupe save them they would bring their ship's mast to her 
shrine and set it up there as a perpetual memorial of her 
protecting power ; that immediately their ship came 
safely to Vera Cruz, and that the mariners loyally fulfilled 
their vow, carrying the mast with its yards upon their 
shoulders from Vera Cruz to the capital and thence to 
this place, where they set it up and builfc around it for 
protection from the weather the covering of stone. And 
there the mast is, even until this day. Lower down the 
hill, on its western side, is a curious httle grotto, the work 
of one of the servitors of the church, most ingeniously 
lined with a mosaic made of broken china-ware — very 
well worth the real that the visitor is expected to pay for 
the privilege of seeing it. 

Capilla del Focito. — The "chapel of the well " is a very 
elegant little structure, roofed with a dome of enamelled 
tiles, that covers the miraculous spring that gushed forth 
from beneath the Virgin's feet. The well is in the ante- 
room to the chapel proper, and is surrounded and covered 
by a grating of wrought iron. In the chapel is a hand- 
somely carved pulpit, the support of which is an image 
of Juan Diego. The gracious little building was com- 
pleted in the year 1791, at a cost of $50,000. Its archi- 
tect was Don Francisco Guerrero y Torres, whose services 
were given to the church. Directly opposite the door 
of the chapel, just at the beginning of the ascent of the 
hill, is a pillar, crowned with a figure of the Virgin, that 
marks the precise spot of the first of the miraculous ap- 
paritions. 

Adjoining the Collegiate church on the east is the 
church and ex-convent of Santa Coleta, a Capuchin foun- 
dation, popularly known as the Capuchinas de Nuestra 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 299 

Senora de Guadalupe. Two unsuccessful attempts, in 
1575 and 1707, were made to found a convent near the 
sanctuary. The third attempt, in 1779, was successful. 
In that year a Capuchin nun, Sor Maria Ana de San Juan 
Nepomuceno, was moved in her spirit to make yet one 
more effort to establish here a house of religious ; and 
to this end she personally petitioned the Archbishop Nu- 
iiez Haro y Peralta, though telling him that all the for- 
tune at her command for this work was the sum of two 
reales ! Pursuing her project vigorously, she went over 
seas to Spain and applied to the king for aid ; and the 
king, much impressed by her devotion, granted her 
prayer. A royal order issued, July 3, 1780, permitting 
the convent to be erected ; and with this order Sor Maria 
came again to Mexico joyfully. Work began at once, 
money being given in great abundance, and the church 
and convent were completed, at a cost of $212,328, Au- 
gust 30, 1787. On the 13th of the ensuing October, five 
Capuchinas, of whom one was the faithful Sor Maria, took 
possession of the new building. The convent was closed 
by the operation of the laws of the Reform. In the con- 
vent church there is usually to be found, as in Mexican 
churches generally, a httle old woman who sits near the 
entrance and sells holy images ; and with her there is usu- 
ally a decorous and rather clerical-looking black cat. A 
few words in praise of this staid animal, and the invest- 
ment of a couple of reales in holy images, will so dispose 
this old woman to friendliness that she will permit the 
visitor to pass through the church to the lower floor of 
the convent. In the inner patio the cells once belonging 
to the nuns may be seen : windowless vaults six feet 
square with a stone bench for a bed — for of all the rules 
that of the Capuchinas was the most severe. 



300 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

By a royal order of 1748, the village of duadalupe 
was made a town ; and by the act of Congress of Febru- 
ary 12, 1828, the town became the City of Guadalupe- 
Hidalgo. The present " city " has a population of about 
3,000 souls. In front of the parish church is a very 
pretty little public garden, . that was opened in 1866. 
The town is memorable poHtically as being the scene of 
the climax of the war between the United States and 
Mexico : the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed 
here February 2, 1848. 

Chapultepec, the Presidential residence, and the 
National Military Academy, a little more than two miles 
southwest of the city. (The Tacubaya and San Angel 
lines of horse cars, from the west side of the Plaza Mayor, 
pass close by the park gates.) The hill of Chapul tepee 
is one of the several isolated rocks which protrude above 
the swampy soil of the valley. Formerly, being sur- 
rounded by a marsh, it was occupied by the founders of 
Tenochtitlan before making their still more secure city 
in the middle of the lake. At its eastern foot is a large 
spring, whence a portion of the city's water-supply is 
drawn, and around its base grow many ancient ahue- 
huetes — a species of cypress. The grove of these huge 
and ancient moss-draped trees — dating from before the 
Conquest — forming the park at the base of the hill on 
the west, is one of the most impressive sights of Mexico. 
Owing to its strong defensive position and its abundant 
supply of water the hill was a point coveted by the var- 
ious tribes settled in its vicinity. The people of Tenoch- 
titlan, when firmly established in their lake city, repos- 
sessed themselves of it ; built a connecting causeway, 
and on this an aqueduct — precisely over the line occu- 
pied by the aqueduct now existing. While mentioning 



ENTIRONS OF MEXICO. 301 

this fact (also recorded by Vetancurt and contemporary 
chroniclers) Mr. Bandelier affirms positively that the hill 
"never was used as a * summer resort ' for the chiefs, or 
a 'royal villa,' as has been imagined." It was used, 
however, to some extent as a burial place, and a few of 
the Mexican chiefs had their effigies carved upon its 
rocky base. Reference is made to these carvings by 
Torquemada ; Gama refers to them as in existence at 
the close of the last century ; and Senor Orozco y Berra 
mentions having seen their remains — adding that when 
looking for them subsequently he was unable to find 
them. Mr. Bandelier was assured in Mexico that the 
carvings had disappeared. He whites : " Nevertheless, I 
found on March 6, 1881, what clearly appears to be the 
remainder of the effigy of Ahuitzotl, the last Monte- 
zuma's predecessor in the command of the Nahuatl con- 
federacy. It was carved in half relief, and was originally 
a full-length figure of a man, life-size, stretched out on a 
ledge of natural rock sloping at an inclination of nearly 
fifty-five degrees. Only the lower limbs are preserved. 
The top and the whole body evidently have been blown 
off [the holes drilled for blasting are plainly visible] 
nothing remains of them but these fragments. The feet 
also are mutilated ; they appear to have stood on an im- 
perfectly carved moulding. But the principal features 
of the monument are the figure of 2nd acatl, or ' cane ' 
(still visible to the right of what was once the head), and 
beneath it the picture of a water-rat. Both are suffi- 
ciently distinct. The former is a date, and corresponds 
to 1507 of our era ; the latter is a name, and reads 
'Ahuit Zotr in the native Mexican language." This very 
interesting fragment is on the eastern base of the hill, a 
short distance northwest of the drive leading past*the 



302 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

battle monument, and a few feet to the left of the drive 
leading around the base of the hill to the park. The 
vines and underbrush by which the carving for a long 
time had been hidden were removed in 1886. 

In the year 1783 the Viceroy Don Matias de Galvez 
obtained permission from the King of Spain "to repair 
and put in order the palace of Chap ul tepee," thus im- 
plying that before that date an edifice of considerable 
proportions had crowned the hill. In this case, how- 
ever, repair meant reconstruction. The death of the 
Viceroy delayed for a short time the execution of the 
work ; but it was pushed forward so rapidly by his son, 
Don Bernardo de Galvez, who also was his successor in 
the viceroyalty, that the new palace was completed in 
1785, at a cost of upward of $300,000. Very consider- 
able additions to the building have been made both in 
Viceroyal and Kepublican times, and further additions 
were made to it during the brief reign of Maximilian — 
who made it his residence. During the recent Presi- 
dency of General Gonzalez plans were perfected for 
making this the Presidential residence ; in pursuance of 
which it is expected that President Diaz will make his 
home here during the remainder of his official term. 
The palace is such in fact as well as in name, an im- 
mense building, in which are large halls and galleries 
handsomely decorated, and around which are marble- 
paved terraces commanding one of the most magnificent 
views in the world : the beautiful valley of Mexico, with 
its city and lakes in the foreground, and for background, 
in the east, the snow-capped volcanoes — tinged at even- 
ing with ruddy reflections and overhung by great masses 
of crimsoned clouds. Upon the terraces are flower- 
gardens, and at the eastern base of the hill — reached by 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 303 

a winding, terraced drive — is a larger flower garden in 
wliich is a little artificial lake. Inclosing the entire 
base of the hill is a strip of woodland that on the western 
front broadens out into the noble park. 

The National Military College occuj)ies a large build- 
ing on the lower terrace of the Palace. The system of 
training pursued is similar to that of West Point. 
About 325 cadets attend the College. Admission to the 
College and to the Palace is obtained by a card granted 
on application to the Minister of War. 

The hill of Chapultepec was taken by storm by the 
American troops under General Pillow, after a day's 
bombardment, early on the morning of September 13th, 
1847 ; the gallant defender of the position. General 
Nicolas Bravo, being taken prisoner. The cadets of the 
Military College took ]3art in the defence with great hero- 
ism, and many of these brave lads fell. A handsome 
monument in memory of their courage and patriotism 
was erected in the garden at the eastern base of the hill 
in the year 1880. 

Molino del Rey (reached by the branch tramway to 
Dolores, starting from a point on the Tacubaya tramway 
just south of Chapultepec). This point w^as carried, 
together with the Casa Mata, by General Worth — fight- 
ing against great odds and sustaining a heavy loss — on 
the morning of September 8, 1847. Lieutenant Grant 
was one of the first to enter the Mill. In his recently 
published " Memoirs " he expresses the opinion that 
both Chapultepec and Molino del Rey were unnecessary 
battles, as the two positions could have been turned ; 
though in regard to Scott's generalship as a whole he 
speaks in high praise. The war generally he character- 
izes as "unholy" ; " one of the most unjust ever waged 



304 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

by a stronger against a weaker nation " ; an opinion in 
vvhicli every fair-minded American must concur. 

Tacubaya (reached by horse cars starting from the 
west side of the Plaza Mayor ; also by the horse car 
line to San Angel, starting from the same point). Primi- 
tively known as Atlacoloayan (" place in the bend of the 
brook "), the suburb of Tacubaya de los Martires, with 
a population of nearl}^ 8,000 souls, is the most beau- 
tiful town in the valley. It is built upon a hill-side, 
sloping to the northwest, at a distance of about three 
miles southwest of the city. The town, in its present 
form, is comparatively modern, although from the 
earliest times a small village existed here ; and the pro- 
ject seriously was entertained, after the great inundation 
of 1629-34, of making this the site of the City of Mexico 
— the lapse of which project, on sanitary grounds, is to 
be much deplored. There is a parish church, an ex- 
monastery some time the property of the Dominicans, 
the handsome church of San Diego and several small 
chapels ; also a small Alameda, and a pretty garden in 
the Plaza de Cartagena. In the ex-palace of the Arch- 
bishop (built by the Archbishop and Viceroy Vizarron 
in 1737) is housed the National Astronomical Observa- 
tory ; and in this building at one time was housed the 
Military College now at Chapultepec. The chief charm 
of Tacubaya is found in its numerous very beautiful 
private gardens — -huertas, large inclosures, half garden, 
half park, belonging to rich citizens of Mexico, who 
come here for recreation and rest. The more notable 
of these (to which admission may be obtained by a 
card from their several owners) are the huertas of the 
famihes Barron, Escandon, Mier y Cells and Baidet. 
In the western part of the town, reached by a branch 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 305 

line of second class cars, is the arbol ben Ho, " the blessed 
tree." Legend says that a long while ago, one fiercely- 
hot day of summer, a holy priest paused beneath this 
tree and in its cool shade became rested and refreshed. 
Therefore, as he went away, comforted, he turned and 
blessed the tree and bade it evermore be green : and 
straightway there gushed out from among its roots a 
most sweet and copious spring. Those who doubt this 
legend must reconcile with their doubt the facts that 
the tree always is green, and that the sweet spring con- 
tinues to flow. 

Mixcoac (on the line of the San Angel tramway, a 
mile or so south of Tacubaya) is a charming little town 
of low adobe houses built along narrow lanes which wan- 
der among gardens. It is a manufacturing town, and 
its manufactures are a trifle incongruous : bricks and 
flowers. There is a very tolerable tivoli here, the Cas- 
taiieda, at which breakfast may be had. 

San Angel (reached by horse-cars from the west side 
of the Plaza Mayor ; also by the Tlalpam horse-cars to 
San Mateo, and thence to San Angel by a cross-country 
horse-car line. A very pleasant expedition may be made 
by going by one of these routes and returning by the 
other. The cross-country line passes through the towns 
of Coyoacan and Churubusco, which see below). This 
pretty little town, five or six miles south of Mexico, is 
built upon a hill-side in the midst of orchards and gar- 
dens ; and in the growing time it is a cloud of blossoms 
and green leaves. Many pleasure houses (casas de recreo) 
are here, where city-folk come for ease in the hot months ; 
but there is nothing here to compare with the perfectly 
ordered gardens of Tacubaya. In point of fact, San An- 
gel has somewhat outhved its usefulness and is rather 



306 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

down-at-lieel — and therefore it is a very delightful place 
indeed. Its most attractive feature is tlie picturesque 
and now deserted Carmelite monastery of Nuestra Seiiora 
del Carmen, with its fine church crowned by exceed- 
ingly beautiful tiled domes. This monastery possesses a 
very respectable age. In the year 1613, Don Felipe de 
Guzman, a pious cacique of Chimalistac, in fulfilment of 
his father's testament, gave up to the Carmelite order a 
huerta of considerable size. Here the Carmelites built a 
little hospice. Don Felipe de Guzman presently died ; 
and a little later died also his widow, childless. By her 
will the entire estate of which she died possessed passed 
to the Carmelite fathers : and by these it was devoted 
to the building of the existing monastery and church. 
The plans for these buildings were prepared by the cele- 
brated architect Fray Andres de San Miguel, a lay brother 
of the Carmelite order, and at that time held to be the 
first architect of New Spain. That this reputation was 
well merited is shown by the beauty of his stiU existing 
work. The building was begun June 20, 1615, and was 
pushed with so much vigor that the church and convent 
were finished within two years. The church was dedi- 
cated to San Angelo Martir, whence came the name of 
the little town that presently grew up around it. Later, 
in 1633, another rich patroness appearing, Doiia Ana 
Aguilar y Niiio, the dedication of the church was changed 
at her request to Santa Ana. The handsome chapel, dedi- 
cated to Jesus Nazareno, known as the Seilor de Con- 
treras, was built at the end of the last century by Fray 
Juan de Santa Maria. The church was thoroughly re- 
paired in 1857. It is a large and handsome building 
containing a number of images much reverenced. The 
monastery is a most fascinating place even in its ruin — - 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 307 

for a considerable portion of it has been razed and what 
remains is falling into decay. In its rear, sloping to the 
south and east, is a garden once kept trimly but now a 
wilderness of fruit trees and shrubs and flowers in which 
are old water tanks and a great fish pond — from which 
the fish long since have vanished ; and from the terrace 
overhanging the garden, just out fi'om the refectory, one 
looks eastward over miles of orchards and gardens — 
dotted here and there with low square houses, and here and 
there with Httle church towers, and above all these the 
great tower of the church at Coyoacan — to the far horizon 
where the snow-capped mountains rise against the blue 
sky. In the refectory there are remnants of some very 
tolerable frescoes ; and in the cloister, just off the church 
yai'd, are others still more ruinous. Among these latter, 
cleansed fi'om the overlying white-wash by some loving 
hand, is a wonderfully fine head of Christ. 

Coyoacan (reached most directly by the Tlalpam 
tramway, starting from the south side of the Plaza Mayor, 
to San Mateo, and there changing to the car for San An- 
gel that passes through Coyoacan. It may be reached 
also by the tramway to San Angel, and thence by the car 
to San Mateo). This very picturesque town is older than 
the City of Mexico. After the Conquest (August 17, 
1521) Cortes established in Coyoacan the seat of govern- 
ment, and from here directed the laying out of the pres- 
ent City of Mexico. Immediately after taking up his 
abode here he gave a banquet to his captains in honor of 
the victory which they had achieved ; and as about this 
time there arrived at Yera Cruz a ship having a consider- 
able quantity of wine aboard the Conquerors were able 
to celebrate their victories right royally. So scandalous, 
indeed, was this feast, that the worthy Fray Bartolome 



308 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

de Olmedo, cliaplain to Cortes, felt constrained to order 
the whole company to do penance, and on the ensuing- 
Sunday preached a most vigorous sermon at them. A 
large and handsome house was built here, in which Cortes, 
with La Marina, dwelt contentedly while the building of 
the city went on. This house still may be seen, at the 
northern side of the little plaza. A part of it is a jail and 
the remainder is devoted to the officers of the town gov- 
ernment. Over the main doorway, blurred by many coats 
of white-wash, are graven the arms of the Conqueror. 
Next to this, west, is another house in which Cortes 
dwelt, and a well is pointed out in the garden in which 
he is said to have drowned his wife. Recentlv discover- 
ed legal records tend to confirm the popular tradition — 
which adds that the wife is buried in the cross-crowned 
mound in the churchyard. Many legends of Cortes 
survive hereabouts, and if the visitor is lucky enough to 
come across a story-telling old man or old woman a great 
deal of very delightful and quite impossible history may 
be learned in a comparatively short time. South of the 
plaza, across the highway, is the large and imposing 
church of San Juan Bautista which, together with the 
Dominican monastery connected with it, was founded by 
the eminent Fray Domingo de Vetanzos, probably about 
the year 1530. The present church — as may be read in 
the graving upon its fayade — was built in 1583. In the 
church-yard is a stone cross set up on a little mound that 
tradition declares was a place of worship in primitive 
times : and tradition further declares that the cross was 
placed here by Cortes. 

The Ped regal (stony place) lies south of San Angel 
and Coyoacan. The portion of it directly south of the 
latter town is exceedingly picturesque, the rocky, uneven 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 309 

ground being covered with a lavish growth of cactus and 
stunted trees, and kixuriant bushes and traihng vines. 
NfUTONV footways, usually bordered by low stone walls, 
ramify in every direction, passing curious little stone 
houses, and garden patches, and winding along the edges 
of ragged gulches and by the sides of clear streams. In 
the midst of this maze is the very picturesque chapel of 
the Niiio Jesus, and the painfully trim-looking chapel of 
the Concepcion. The shortest way into this charming 
wilderness is along the road that runs southward in front 
of the chui'ch-yard of San Juan Bautista in Coyoacan, 
and thence bearing to the left from a point a little beyond 
the cross-road where is set up a pretty cross of stone. By 
bearing to the right a scarcely less delightful walk may 
be taken among the gardens and adobe houses of an In- 
dian town. 

Churubusco (reached by the Tlalpam tramway, start- 
ing fi'om the south side of the Plaza Mayor, to San Mateo, 
and thence — a distance of half a mile — on foot or by the 
tramway leading to San Angel). There is no town here, 
only a few scattered little houses ; the very ancient church 
of San Mateo, once the parish church, but now closed and 
falling into decay ; and the beautiful church and ex-mon- 
astery of Santa Maria de los Angeles. In primitive times 
there v/as here a very important town, Huitziloj)ochco, 
that grew up around the temple of the god Huitzilopoch- 
th — from the first of which trying names, by a pardonable 
corruption, that of Churubusco was derived. In this 
temple the god Huitzilopochtli, who in his life was a most 
famous warrior, was worshipped. " This jDlace," saj's the 
delightful chronicler Baltasar Medina, " was the dwelhng 
and diabolical habitation of infernal spirits that with fear- 
ful noises and bowlings disturbed all the region round 



810 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

about where the idol had usurped the worship of the true 
God. The holy monks built here in honor of the true 
God, who crushes the serpent's head in the waters, a tem- 
ple of the faithful, giving to it the name of Santa Maria 
de los Angeles, because where once had flourished the sin 
of idolatry now superabounds the grace and glory of this 
Lady. To this most honorable and efficacious name was 
added that of San Antonio Abad, whose stone image was 
placed beside the church door ; for against the persecu- 
tion of the demons, w^ho like hungry lions haunted this 
place the altar of their worship among the heathen, rag- 
ing against the faithful now that their Dagon had fallen, 
the Christians invoked the protection of this saintly abbot, 
who, among his many gifts and privileges of grace, had 
empire and dominion against the assaults of Lucifer." 
Upon the site of this primitive church the present beauti- 
ful church and monastery were built, being completed 
May 2, 1678. Thej^atron and patroness of the new church 
and monastery were Don Diego del Castillo, citizen of 
Mexico, native of the City of Grenada, merchant of silver, 
and Dofia Helena de la Cruz, his wife. The kneeling effi- 
gies of this pious gentleman and his wife, carved in wood 
and painted, still are preserved in the sacristy of the church 
— a most seemly couple, very quaint in their picturesque 
garments of the fashion of two hundred years ago. Al- 
though sadly fallen into decay, and although a portion of 
the monastery has been taken possession of by the gov- 
ernment for a military hospital, this church and monas- 
tery are among the most beautiful of the foundations of 
the religious orders in or near the capitol. Especially 
beautiful is the lavish decoration in glazed tiles : the little 
chapel of San Antonio Abad beside the church door — 
now bereft of the image of the demon-daunting saint 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 311 

and beginning to drop to pieces — is covered with tiles 
from its base to the pinnacle of its dome ; there is a 
dado of tiles in the lovely cloister ; once a dado of tiles 
ran around the whole of the large refectory — now a 
ruin ; the Abbot's bath — which can be seen now only 
from the roof, or by climbing up a ladder placed against 
the window of the main stair- way — is a gem of tile-work ; 
the chou', still perfect, is a mosaic of tiles arranged in ex- 
quisite taste. The church contains a quaint old organ 
inclosed in a richly carved wooden case ; three well carved 
wooden busts of saints — probably by the artist who made 
the portraits of Don Diego and his worthy wife, and 
a fine painting of the Assumption of the Virgin. In the 
sacristy there are several pictures of no especial artis- 
tic value, but exceedingly curious. By way of finishing 
touch, in the midst of the sunny patio that the cloister 
surrounds, there wells up into an antique stone basin a 
wonderfully clear spring. No more interesting expedition 
out of Mexico can be made than to this beautiful place. 

In the plaza in front of the ex-monastery, now a hos- 
pital, is a monument commemorating the battle fought 
here with the Americans August 20, 1847. The monas- 
tery was very gallantly defended by General Pedro 
Maria Anaya against the assault of Generals Worth, 
Smith, and Twio-jrs. After the work had been carried 
Worth asked Anaya if among the surrendered material 
of war there was any ammunition, to which the brave 
Mexican made the historic answer : " Had I any ammu- 
nition you would not be here ! " 

Tialpam (reached by horse-cars starting from the 
south side of the Plaza Mayor), formerly kno^vn as San 
Agustin de las Cuevas. This flourishing little town of 
about 7,000 inhabitants lies fourteen miles south of 



312 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Mexico. There are many flower and fruit gardens 
hereabouts for the supply of the city markets. In and 
near the town are important factories of cotton, and 
woollen cloth, and paper. In former times, at Whitsun- 
tide, a great gambhng fete was held at San Agustin de 
las Cuevas to which all the wealth and fashion, and all 
the rascality and cut-throatism, of the capital resorted in 
a manner most amicably democratic. So outrageous did 
this festival become that about thirty years ago it was 
definitely suppressed. In 1794 the Viceroy Revillagi- 
gedo greatly improved the town, straightening and pav- 
ing its streets and giving it an adequate supply of water. 
At one time it was the capital of the State of Mexico. 

Popotia, " the place of the brooms " (reached by the 
Tacuba line of horse cars, starting from the western side 
of the Plaza Mayor). The only point of interest here, 
but that a point of very great interest, is the arhol de la 
noche triste, the ' Tree of the Dismal Night,' beneath 
which Cortes sat him down and wept on the night of the 
terrible retreat from Mexico, July 1, 1520. The tree, an 
ahuehuete (properly ahuehuetl), identical in kind with 
those in the park of Chapultepec, flourished in perfect 
health until a few years ago when a fire was kindled be- 
neath it that seriously burned its trunk. Since then, 
several of the upper branches have died. It is now pro- 
tected by a high iron railing, and by a most zealous 
policeman. Relic-hunters are warned that this is not a 
good subject for the practice of their peculiar line of 
vulgar thievery. In February, 1885, some alleged ladies 
and gentlemen of American extraction, who liad broken 
twigs from the tree, were most justly arrested and most 
righteously fined. Beside the tree stands the curious 
old church of San Esteban. 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 313 

Tacuba, a corrupted form of Tlacupan (reached by 
horse-cai's starting from the west side of the Plaza 
Mayor), lu primitive times this was an important town. 
Here reigned in succession, between the years 1430 and 
1525, Totoquiyauhtzin I., Chimalpopoca, Totoquiyauht- 
zin n., and Tetlepanquetzaltzin — this last named mon- 
arch being hanged by order of Cortes in 1525. The 
town has about 2,000 inhabitants. There is here a hand- 
some church surrounded by a wall of inverted arches. 
Near the church is the residence of the present Arch- 
bishop of Mexico, Seiior Dr. Don Pelagio Antonio de 
Labastida y Davalos. Especially impressive services 
ai'e held in Tacuba during Holy Week. 

Atzcapotzaico — " the ant-hill ; " so named in primitive 
times because of its very numerous inhabitants (reached by 
horse-cars starting from the west side of the Plaza Mayor 
and running through Popotla and Tacuba). The founda- 
tion of the Aztec kingdom conquered by Cortes was laid 
in 1428, when the kings of Tenochtitlan and Texcoco 
(Chichimecs) overcame and killed the cruel king of Atzca- 
potzaico, Maxtla. As the result of this victory the legiti- 
mate ruler of the Chichimecs, the poet-king- Netzahual- 
coyotl, was re-established upon the throne that the father 
of Maxtla had usurped and that the son had retained ; and 
the king of Tenochtitlan received the territory pertaining 
to the kingdom of Atzcapotzaico — out of a j)ortion of 
Avhich he erected the small kingdom of Tlacopan (Tacuba : 
see above).* The present town of Atzcapotzaico numbers 
about 1,500 inhabitants, who are largely engaged in the 
manufacture of pottery. There is also here an important 

* The rather absurd terms "king," " kingdom," and " tlirone,'' 
are used liere, and elsewhere, in deference to the custom uni- 
formly observed by the Spanish chroniclers. 



314 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

manufactory of textiles. Upon the site of the great tem- 
ple of primitive times stands the church and now partly 
ruined monastery erected by the Dominicans in 1565. 
The present church was completed October 8, 1702. 
Upon the side of the tower facing the plaza, near the top 
of its first stor}^, is graven the image of an ant — symboli- 
cal of the name of the town and of the great population 
that it once had. The church is a large and handsome 
building with a fine tower and two beautiful domes ; and 
the monastery, even the more because of its ruinous 
state, is wonderfully picturesque. 

Around Atzcapotzalco linger many delightful legends, 
the most notable of which is a version of the Malinche 
myth that in one form or another crops out all over 
Mexico. Following eastward for nearly a mile the street 
at the back of the monastery, the legend-lover will come 
to Zancopinca, where is a pond of sweet water beside 
which is a ruined aqueduct. In the pond, as in a palace 
of crystal, lives for half of each day the Malinche— the 
other half of her day being spent in the spring of Cha- 
pultepec. But whereas at Chapultepec she is a benign 
spirit, here she is a spirit of much malignity. With a 
song of infinite sweetness she lures to the pond unwary 
passers-by, and once beside the pond her extraordinary 
beauty completes the unhappy conquest that her wickedly 
sweet voice has begun. It is most dangerous to pass near 
this place in the very early morning or in the evening, 
for at these times her syren-song is heard. Whoever 
hears this song, unless he would disappear forever from 
among the living, must close his ears and with all possi- 
ble speed hasten far away. Should he not take these 
heroic measures for self-preservation, he will feel a soft 
languor creeping over him, dulling his senses yet filling 



ENVIRONS OF MEXICO. 315 

him with an ineffable delight ; slowly but in'esistibly he 
will be drawn toward the pond, and when he reaches it 
and there sees beckoning to him the beautiful Malinche 
he surely will cast himself into its clear depths and never 
more be known among men. The old Indian who will 
tell this story possibly will add, telling it close in the ear 
of his listener in manner most confidential, that in the 
depths of this pond lie hidden the treasures concealed 
by Guatimotzin ; the hiding place of which, even under 
the cruel torture to which Cortes subjected him, he re- 
fused to reveal. Westward from the monastery, through 
a winding lane between bushy hedges, is reached an open 
space in the midst of which is a grove composed of five 
great ahuehuetes. These trees, the old Indian wdll af- 
firm, once were a part of a wonderful enchantment. In 
ancient times there w^as beneath and among their roots 
a spring that constant^ welled up, but that never over- 
flowed ; and whosoever drank of this spring at once and 
forever disappeared. One day there came out from the 
church a procession of holy fathers carrying with them 
the image of the Blessed Virgin ; and these passed sing- 
ing along the road until they came to the spring. Be- 
side it they set up an altar, on which the Virgin was ; 
and a preacher preached against the spring's wickedness ; 
and then all the multitude cast into it stones and earth 
until it was filled up and overlaid and hidden ; and £)ver 
where it had been was built an altar to the Virgin within 
a chapel, that remained there until at last it dropped 
down in little pieces because it had become so very old. 
So this evil spring was overcome and made to vanish 
away. But even now he who will enter the grove of 
ahuehuetes and will lay his ear close to the earth will hear 
the spring still murmuring and singing its enchantments 



316 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

beneath the ground. And its memory still lives in the 
proverb, cited when any one suddenly and mysteriously 
disappears : Este bebio del agua de los ahuehuetes. 

La Pied ad (reached by horse-car from the Plaza 
Mayor). At the southern extremity of the Calzada de 
la Piedad, less than a mile from the Garita de Belen, are 
the church and ex-monastery of Nuestra Seilora de la 
Piedad, a Dominican foundation of 1652. About the 
middle of the seventeenth century there was in Pome a 
monk of the order of Santo Domingo who had been 
charged by the prelate of the monastery to which he be- 
longed in Mexico to have painted by the best artist then 
in Rome a picture of the Virgin with the dead Christ. 
But when the monk, about to depart for Mexico, asked 
for the picture, the artist had finished only its outline 
drawing. Nevertheless, the monk took this with him 
and, journeying through Spain to the seaboard, took 
ship for Mexico. And it fell out that as he and his 
companions sailed westward a dreadful tempest arose, so 
that there seemed no doubt but that the ship would be 
overwhelmed by the sea. In this extremity they made 
a solemn vow to the Virgin that in return for her pro- 
tection they would build for her in Mexico a temple in 
which the painting of her that they carried with them 
should be enshrined. And the Vircfin heard their 
prayer and they all were saved. Therefore they col- 
lected alms, and so built the church of La Piedad. And 
yet another miracle happened, for when the picture that 
the monk had brought from Rome was opened in Mexico, 
behold ! it was not the mere outline that he had taken 
from the Roman artist, but a very beautiful picture fin- 
ished in its every part ! And the miraculous picture 
hangs over the main altar of the church of La Piedad, 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 317 

and is greatly venerated, even until this present day. 
The church was dedicated February 2, 1652. In addi- 
tion to the miraculous picture are several notable paint- 
ings by the Mexican artists Cabrera and Velasquez, and a 
curious picture representing the storm at sea that was 
stilled by the Virgin's intervention. 



XIII. SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 

The VI ga Canal (reached by horse-cars passing 
east along the southern side of the Plaza Mayor). A 
pasear by boat on the Viga can be made an affair of a 
couple of hours — to the chinampas at Santa Anita and 
return ; of a day — to Mexicalcingo and return, stopping 
at the intermediate villages of Santa Anita, Ixtacalco, 
and San Juanico; or even of two days — through the 
whole length of the canal and across the western end of 
Lake Xochimilco to the town of the same name, stop- 
ping there all night and returning on the following day. 
The one day expedition certainl}' should be taken. 
There are no fixed prices for the boats, and the begin- 
ning of the cruise is almost a personal combat with a 
crowd of boatmen as to which boat shall be taken and 
what amount shall be paid for its use. For a party of 
four, or less, a boat should be had for not more than two 
dollars. For the shorter expedition, to Sta. Anita and 
the chinampas, including the return trip, not more than six 
7^eales should be paid. By playing the men against each 
other, and by going through the form of abandoning the 
expedition in disgust, reasonable terms may be obtained. 
The boats in use are flat-bottomed affairs, twelve or fif- 



318 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

teen feet long and about four feet wide, roofed except at 
bow and stern, and with loose curtains at the sides, 
benches running fore and aft — a species of barbaric 
gondola. Thej are propelled by a pole, that the boat- 
man operates in the bow. Almost immediately after 
getting under way the boat passes through the Garita 
de la Yiga, where boats bringing merchandise of any 
sort to the city are halted for the receipt of the city tax. 
Outside of the garita a line of boats loaded with fire- 
wood usually is found ; for these great boats cannot pass 
through the narrow way left open under the stone 
arches. The first town reached is Santa Anita, a Mex- 
ican version of Coney Island. To this pretty place the 
lower and middle classes resort in shoals on Sunday 
and feast-day afternoons. It is a little town of straw- 
thatched houses, nearly every one of which is a shop or 
a restaurant (and many of them drinking places also), 
and everywhere there is a pervading smell of cooked 
tamales. There are swings, and places wherein lively 
games are played, and flower-selling places — where men 
and women buy garlands of brilliant-hued poj)pies 
wherewith to crown each other ; and everywhere is a 
crowd made up of flower-crowned people, genuinely 
merry and light of heart. Surrounding the town are 
the chinampas, the floating gardens that once really 
did float, but that now are little patches of garden 
ground separated by narrow canals. Here are grown 
flowers and vegetables for the city market, and for sale 
at home on Sundays and feast-days — where the popular 
vegetables, eaten without other sauce than liking, are 
huge radishes and lettuce. The church of Santa Anita 
is a quaint old building with a fine tower. At Ixtacal- 
00, the next town on the line of the canal, are more 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 319 

chinamjjas, less gayety, a small market and a very pre- 
sentable old clmrcli, dedicated to San Matias — a Fran- 
ciscan foundation of more than three hundred years ago. 
In front of the chiu'ch is a little plaza with a fountain of 
sweet water in its midst ; and away from the plaza, along 
the lane that is marked by a palm-tree at its beginning, 
is a small, curious building that once was the chapel of 
Santiago. It is used as a dwelling now, and right in 
among its numerous inhabitants is the remnant of what 
seems to have been a most gallant image of Santiago — 
now galloping to defend the faith on a headless horse ! 
Mexicalcingo, about seven miles south of the city, was a 
place of some importance before the Conquest, but now 
is an insignificant little town of less than three hundred 
inhabitants. A small monastery, and the church of San 
Marco, were founded here by the Franciscans at a very 
early period ; and in Yetancurt's time, two centuries 
ago, the parish numbered upward of 1,500 souls. The 
monastery still exists, but in a ruinous condition, while 
the comparatively large church — built on the site of the 
primitive structure — is in tolerably good repair. It 
is rather a bleak-looking edifice. The road from Mexico 
to Ixtaj)alapan crosses the canal at this point, and a very 
picturesque bit is had in the juxtaposition of this bridge 
and a rambling adobe house shaded by a row of great 
old trees growing along the water's edge. This is a 
good place to tie up and have breakfast (provision for 
which must be earned along) in a leisurely fashion, pre- 
paratory to starting on the return trip : and benevolent 
people will give a loaf of white bread to the nice old 
woman who lives in the northern end of the rambling 
house for the use and benefit of her cat : for the cat has 
an inordinate craving for white bread that rarely is sat- 



320 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

isfied. On a Sunday or feast-day afternoon, the return 
trip, especially from Santa Anita to the city, is one of 
the memorable sights of Mexico. The canal is crowded 
thickly with boats of all sorts and sizes, and the boats 
are crowded with garlanded merry-makers — tinkling 
guitars, singing, and on the larger boats even dancing. 
At this time, too, a wonderfully wizened and shocking- 
looking old beggar, an institution of the canal, paddles 
about vigorously in his canoe and reaps a very respect- 
able harvest of alms ; and the huge passenger boats for 
Xochimilco and Chalco are starting on the cruise that 
will not end until the morning of the ensuing day. The 
fact should be added that, strictly speaking, the Viga 
canal is not a canal at all, but a navigable sluice through 
which the waters of the lakes Xochimilco and Chalco 
discharge into the lower level of Texcoco. It is possible 
that the name Viga is derived from the wooden bridges 
of vigas (beams) which once spanned the canal. 

The Desierto (about fifteen miles southwest of the city, 
reached on horseback). That very crabbed chronicler, 
Thomas Gage, an English monk of the Dominican order 
who was smuggled into Mexico about the middle of the 
seventeenth century, thus describes, in his " New Sur- 
vey of the "West Indias," the Desierto in its palmy days : 
" Northwest- ward three leagues from Mexico is the 
pleasantest place of all that are about Mexico, called La 
Soledad, and by others el desierto, the solitary or desert 
place and wildernesse. "Were all wildernesses like it, to 
livt>^in a wildernesse would be better than to live in a City. 
This hath been a device of poor Fryers named discalced, 
or barefooted Carmelites, who, to make show of their 
hypocriticall and apparent godlinesse, and that whilest 
they would be thought to live like Eremites, retired from 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 321 

the world, they may draw the world unto them ; they have 
built there a stately Cloister, which being upou a hill and 
among* rocks, makes it to be more admired. About the 
Cloister they have fashioned out many holes and Caves 
in, under, and among the rocks, like Eremites lodgings, 
with a room to lie in, and an Oratory to pray in, with pict- 
ures, and Images, and rare devices for mortification, as 
disciplines of wyar, rods of Iron, hair-cloths girdles with 
sharp wyar points to girdle about their bare flesh, and 
many such like toyes, which hang about their Oratories, 
to make people admire their mortified and holy lives. 
All these Eremeticall holes and caves (which are some ten 
in all)^ are within the bounds and compasse of the Clois- 
ter and among orchards and gardens full of fruits and 
flowers, which may take up two miles compasse ; and 
here among the rocks are many springs of water, which 
with the shade of the plantins and other trees, are most 
cool and pleasant to the Eremites ; they have also the 
sweet smell of theroze andjazmin, which is a little flower, 
but the sweetest of all others ; there is not any other 
flower to be found that is rare and exquisite in that 
Country, which is not in that wildernesse to delight the 
senses of those mortified Eremites." 

All this lovely place really is a solitary place, a wilder- 
ness, now ; but even in its ruin it is one of the most 
beautiful spots to be found near the city — while the re- 
mains of the cloister and the " Eremeticall holes and 
caves " make it one of the most curious and interesting. 

San Juan Teotihuacan (twenty-seven miles out 
from Mexico on the line of the Vera Cruz railway). Near 
the village of this name are the very curious pyramids 
of the Sun and Moon (so-called), together with other in- 
teresting prehistoric remains. The pyramids rise in the 



322 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

midst of an arid region, largely composed of volcanic 
basalt deeply indented by numerous quarries, whence 
building material was obtained in prehistoric times. 
Although as seen from the railway the pyramids seem 
small in comparison with the adjacent little mountain, 
the Cerro Gordo, their really prodigious size becomes 
apparent when they are viewed from the level of the 
plain whereon they stand. They rise from the banks of 
the small river of Teotihuacan ; and for more than a 
league in radius traces are discoverable of a large and 
most substantially built city. The pyramid of the Sun, 
according to the very careful measurements of Seiior 
Garcia Cubas, is 216 ft. 8 in. high, with a base 761 ft. x 
721 ft. 7 in. square. The platform on the top is 59 feet 
from north to south by 105 feet from east to west. The 
pyramid of the Moon is 150 ft. 11 in. high, with a base 
511 ft. X 426 ft. 5 in., and a crowning platform 19 ft. 8 in. 
square.* The only entrance as yet discovered is found 
on the southern face of the pyramid of the Moon, at a 
height of 65 feet from the ground. This gives inlet to a 
narrow descending gallery, interrupted by a deep square 
well, the walls of which are laid up with carefully squared 
stone. The axis of this gallery (observation of Seiior 
Garcia Cubas) coincides exactly with the magnetic meri- 
dian. Beyond the gallery the interior remains unex- 
plored. The pyramid of the Sun has not been entered 
at all. To the south of the pja-amid of the Sun is a large 
earthwork known as the ciudadela (citadel) ; a square in- 
closed by a mound averaging 262 feet thick by 32 feet 
high. Id the centre of the inclosed square is a small 
pyramid, and upon the inclosing earth-work are fourteen 

* The pyramid of Cheops is 475 ft. 10 in. high, with a base 774 
ft. X 1102 ft. square. 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 323 

small pyramids disposed at regular intervals. In the 
neighborhood of the pyramids are great numbers of tu- 
muli, isolated and grouped. The most notable group of 
tumuli is that which borders the so-called Calle de los 
Maertos (the Street of the Dead). This curious cause- 
way begins near the " Citadel " and, passing the western 
face of the pyramid of the Sun, ends at the southern 
front of the pyramid of the Moon — there widening out 
into a large circle, in the centre of which is a tumulus. 
Many of the tumuli have been opened, disclosing in some 
cases boxes of wrought stone inclosing a skull and orna- 
ments of obsidian and pottery ; in other cases (in the 
tumuli along the sides of the Street of the Dead) only 
empty chambers have been found. The conclusion ar- 
rived at by Seilor Orozco y Berra in regard to these very 
curious remains — mainly based upon the wide divergence 
from any kno\vn types of the clay masks found in what 
may be assumed to be the older of the tombs — is that 
they are the work of a race older than either Toltecs or 
Acolhuas, of which only these monuments now remain. 

Texcoco (on the line of the Irolo railway, 25 miles out 
from Mexico. Trains leave from the San Lazaro and 
PeralviUo stations. In the town there is a tidy Httle 
hotel, with a fair restaurant attached, kept by a French- 
man. Thepw/^itehere is particularly good). During the 
century preceding the Conquest, Texcoco equalled the 
City of Tenochtitlan in importance. In the year 1431 
the legitimate ruler, Netzahualcoyotl, having deposed 
the usurper Maxtla (see Atzcapotzalco) was firmly estab- 
lished upon his throne. Of this great man it is difficult 
to speak in terms of too high praise. The considerate 
historian, Seiior Orozco y Berra, thus sums his character : 
"Just, yet clement, compassionate of misfortune, gener- 



324 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ous, intelligent, an intrepid warrior, a philosopher, poet, 
engineer, legislator, the father of his people, he filled 
with his fame the world of Anahuac. . . . The Tex- 
coco of his time may be called the Athens of America ; 
as at the same period the strong, aggressive race inhab- 
iting Tenochtitlan made that city the antetype of ancient 
Eome." A part of the success of Cortes was due to the 
fact that at the time of his appearance this kingdom was 
divided by civil wars among the grand- children of Netz- 
ahualcoyotl, and that one of the factions became allied 
with the invaders. Texcoco was the base of operations 
against the city of Tenochtitlan. Here the "brigan- 
tines," * built in Tlaxcala and brought across the moun- 
tains in sections, were put together and launched through 
the canal over which still may be seen the puente de los 
bergantines. Pending the building of the City of Mexico, 
the first Franciscan mission was established here by 
Fray Pedro de Gante. Here for a time, when in disfavor 
with the Spanish king and forbidden to reside in Mexico, 
Cortes made his home ; and in the church here remained 
for some years the Conqueror's bones. The existing town 
presents a very agreeable appearance. Its principal 
street is planted along each curb with a row of young 
orange-trees, and down this perspective is seen the fine 
mass of the ancient church of San Francisco ; having 
near it the still older church, a very plain structure, that 
probably dates from earty in the sixteenth century. In 
the Plaza is a monument crowned with a bust of Netza- 
hualcoyotl ; at the corner of two of the principal streets 
is a very handsome fountain, the gift of the philanthropist 

* The " brigan tines " were flat-bottomed boats propelled by 
sails and oars. Their misleading name in English is a too free 
translation of the Spanish word hergaiiUn. 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 325 

and antiquarian Senor Ruperto Jaspeado ; and in addi- 
tion to tiie church of San Francisco several other ancient 
churches command attention. Aztec remains ai'e very 
plentiful about Texcoco. In the northwestern section of 
the town is the remnant of a mound composed of stones 
and earth, in which, in 1827, Mr. Poinsett found a regu- 
larly arched and well-built passage or sewer of stone 
cemented with lime ; and upon which, in 1850, Mr. 
Maj'er observed " several large slabs of basaltic rock, 
neatly squared and laid north and south." In the south- 
ern part of Texcoco are the massive remains of three 
pyramids, or mounds, each about four hundred feet along 
its base lines. In the person of Seiior Jaspeado (whose 
residence adjoins the apothecary's shop not far from the 
church of San Francisco), persons speaking Spanish will 
find a most able exponent and interpreter of the town's 
antiquities. 

Tetzcotzinco. About three miles east of Texcoco is 
"the laughing hill " [risuena colina) of Tetzcotzinco. Here 
is an enduring monument to the engineering skill and 
good taste of Netzahualcoyotl in the shape of the won- 
derful pleasaunce that he caused to be built for his amuse- 
ment and recreation. The remains of terraced walks and 
stairways wind around the hill from base to summit ; 
seats are hollowed in shady nooks among the rocks, and 
everj'where traces are found of ingenious contrivances 
by which the natural beauty and cool comfort of the sit- 
uation were enhanced. The most important and most 
curious of these remains, at an elevation of eighty or one 
hundred feet, is that to which has been given the purely 
fanciful title of " Montezuma's bath " — a circular reser- 
vou* about five feet in diameter and three feet deep whence 
water was distributed through many channels to the 



326 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

hanging gardens below. In. order to supply the little 
reservoir stupendous works were executed. Near the 
" laughing hill," distant half or three-quarters of a mile, 
is another small hill, and beyond this, twelve or fifteen 
miles, is the mountain chain that encircles the Valley. 
From the reservoir the side of the hill in which it is hol- 
lowed is cut down and levelled, as though graded for a 
railroad, for about half a mile ; thence the grade is carried 
across a ravine to the adjacent hill on an embankment 
fully sixty feet high ; thence the side of the second hill 
is graded for a distance of a mile and a half ; and thence 
the grade is carried on an embankment across the plain 
to the distant mountains. Along the top of the level thus 
formed was built an aqueduct, much of which still re- 
mains in excellent preservation and testifies to the skill 
of its builders. It is formed of a very hard plaster, made 
of lime and small portions of a soft red stone ; is about 
two feet wide, and has a conduit about ten inches in di- 
ameter — a concave trough covered by convex sections of 
plaster, together forming a tube. A part of this pleasur- 
ing place, though some distance from it, is the Bosque del 
Contador, a magnificent grove of ahuehuetes, inclosing a 
great quadrangle that probably in ancient times was a 
lake. 

Molino de F lores. This charming country place, be- 
longing to the family Cervantes, lies off the line of the 
railway about three miles west of Texcoco. Its chief 
beauty is a rocky ravine, plentifully shaded, in which, 
beside a rustic chapel, is a water-fall. The gardens 
watered by the stream are laid out with much taste and 
are filled with flowers. In their midst stands the large 
and handsome residence ; and at a short distance be- 
low the waterfall is the mill. At times when the resi- 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 327 

dence is not occupied strjingers are admitted to the 
grounds by the steward. 

Cuatlenchan. Not far from the Molino de Flores is 
the little village of this name, notable as being near to a 
very remarkable prehistoric relic. This is the prostrate 
figure in stone of an idol popularly (and perhaps cor- 
rectly) styled Xicaca, goddess of waters. The figure is 
a huge monolith, about eighteen feet long by about four 
feet across, and is nearly perfect — though as much in- 
jured as was possible without recourse to drilling and 
blasting. The figure probably was thrown down from 
the crest of the hill, and certainly was defaced, by the 
Spaniards ; but against such a very massive idol as this 
is even that most iconoclastic of all archbishops, the 
devil-defying Zumarraga, was comparatively powerless. 

TIalnepantla. The attractions of this town are 
limited but varied. They consist of an ancient conven- 
tual church, and bull-fights. Travellers who delight not 
in bull-fighting should visit the town on a day not a 
feast-day nor Sunday ; should take the car leaving the 
Plaza Mayor at 1:30 p.m., and return in the car leaving 
TIalnepantla at 5:40 p.m. The trip is well worth taking 
for the sake of seeing the many interesting little towns 
by the way, and still more for the lovely sunset effect — 
westward on the low% blue mountains, and eastward on 
the volcanoes — during the return. The church was be- 
gun in 1583, and probably was dedicated in 1587 — which 
dates may be seen, respectively, on the screen of the 
sacristy and over the side entrance. On the outer 
wall of the chapel of the Misericordia is the date 1609, 
and upon the newly-stuccoed tower is the date 1704. 
This church is interesting in that its interior, saving 
a single altar introduced in the last century, has not 



328 MEXicAisr guide. 

been modernized. The chapel of the Misericordia is 
very quaint. 

Tajo de Nochistongo (on the line of the Mexican 
Central Railway. The station of Huehuetoca is 29 miles 
out from Mexico). This great work was planned by the 
engineer Enrico Martinez to carry off the superfluous 
waters of Lake Zumpango — the highest of the several 
lakes in the Mexican valley — and so to prevent over- 
flow into the lower lakes and the inundation of the city. 
A still more comprehensive plan that he had in mind 
was to strike at the root of the matter and make his 
drain deep enough to carry off the waters of Texcoco ; 
but this, because of its great cost, was abandoned. 
Work was begun November 28, 1607. Fifteen thou- 
sand Indians were employed — this force being utilized 
by sinking shafts at different points and working head- 
ings from each shaft in opposite directions — and in 
eleven months a tunnel was completed eleven feet wide 
by thirteen feet high and more than four miles long. 
The inner facing of the tunnel, being of adobe, softened 
and caved ; and a stone facing, being simply a vault with- 
out firm foundation, proved equally insecure. On June 
20, 1629, the rainy season having set in with unusual 
violence, Martinez gave orders that the mouth of the 
tunnel should be closed — either intending by a very 
practical demonstration to convince the people of Mex- 
ico of the utility of his tunnel (in regard to which much 
diversity of opinion prevailed, and concerning which he 
had been engaged in an acrimonious controversy with 
the authorities), or, as he himself stated, being fearful 
that the work would be completely wrecked by the en- 
trance of so great a volume of water. The effect was 
instantaneous. In a single night the whole citj^, except- 



SHORT EXCURSIONS FROM MEXICO. 329 

ing the Plaza Maj'or, was three feet under water. Dur- 
ing five years, 1629-34 this, " the great inundation," 
Listed ; throughout all of which time the streets were 
passable only in boats. The foundations of many build- 
ings were destroyed, trade was paralyzed, and among 
the poorer classes there was infinite misery. The order 
actually was issued from Madrid to abandon the sub- 
merged city and build a new Mexico on the high ground 
between Tacuba and Tacubaya. Unfortunately, before 
this wise order could be executed, a very dry season, 
dui'ing which several earthquakes cracked the ground 
and so permitted the water to escape, made the pro- 
jected removal unnecessary. Martinez, who had been 
imprisoned for causing this great calamity, was released, 
and was ordered to execute works by which the city 
should be made secure against hke visitations in future. 
He reopened the tunnel, and as an additional safeguard 
rebuilt the dyke of San Cristobal. This great dyke con- 
sists of two distinct masses of, approximately, two miles 
and three quarters and a mile and a half in length, each 
portion being twenty-seven feet in thickness, and vary- 
ing in height from eight to ten feet. Great as these 
works were, they did not afford absolute protection to 
the city ; for the tendency of the tunnel to cave and 
become choked constantly threatened a repetition of the 
disaster of 1629. From the engineering standpoint of 
the times the necessity of taking out the tunnel in open 
cut was recognized. During more than a centuiy this 
great undertaking was carried on in a desultory fashion ; 
and at last, being taken in hand by the Consulada, or 
corporate body of merchants of the capital, was pressed 
vigorously to a conclusion between the years 1767 and 
1789. In order to gain a slope so gradual from the top 



330 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

to the bottom as to prevent tlie sides from falling in, a 
great width had to be given to the cut at the top. For 
a considerable portion of its extent its width varies from 
278 to 630 feet, while its perpendicular depth is from 
147 to 196 feet. The whole length of the cut, from the 
sluice called the vertideros to the salto, or fall, of the river 
Tula, is 67,537 feet. A very complete view of this re- 
markable work can be had from the trains of the Mexi- 
can Central Eailway, the line of which road is carried 
through the tajo, or cut, at an elevation of fifty feet or 
more above the stream. 



PART III. 



PROVINCIAL MEXICO. 



PAET III. 

PROVINCIAL MEXICO. 

jf: THE MEXICAN RAIL WA Y. 

Practical Matters. At either end of the line tickets 
should be purchased and luggage should be checked on 
the afternoon preceding the morning of departure. (At 
Vera Cruz luggage can be sent direct from the steamer 
landing to the railway station, when passed by the cus- 
tom-house officials). If a stop-over ticket is wanted the 
fact should be clearly stated, and the traveller should 
make sure that a ticket of this sort has been sold him. 
Thirty-three pounds (15 kilograms) of luggage is carried 
free. The excess rate for luggage is about $3.50 to Pu- 
ebla, and about $4.50 to the City of Mexico per 100 
pounds. Seats should be taken on the left hand side of 
the car in coming up from Vera Cruz, and on the right 
hand side in going down from the City of Mexico. On 
the up journey light overcoats and w^raps should be car- 
ried, both as a protection from the chilliness of the 
higher level, and the clouds of dust which fill the car 
after Boca del Monte is passed. Stops of from twenty 
minutes to half an hour are made at Orizaba, Esperanza, 
and Apizaco, at each of which stations there is a very 
fair restaurant. Meals cost six reales ; coffee, chocolate, 
and bread, two reales. 



334 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Sights by the Way. The train for the City of Mex- 
ico starts from Yera Cruz at the atrocious hour of 5.45 
A.M. Should the traveller remain awake, there is not 
much of interest for him to see while crossing the 
sandy, chaparral region of the coast. In leaving the 
city, the line traverses the fortifications and passes in 
sight of the Alameda and the cemetery of Casa Mata, and 
thence across the Lagnina de Cocos, and not far from the 
Laguna Boticario. It was near the Laguna de Cocos 
that the army defending Vera Cruz in 1847 surrendered 
to General Scott. At La Zamorana is the junction with 
the steam line leading toMedellin ; and at Tejeria is the 
junction with the tramway leading to Jalapa. At Sole- 
dad, 26 miles out, the treaty between the Generals Prim 
and Doblado was concluded in 1862 (see page 68). Near 
this station the Rio Jamapa is crossed on a bridge more 
than four hundred feet long. From Soledad the won- 
derfully beautiful views of the mountains begin. At 
Paso del Macho, reached after a run through a desolate, 
rocky region, the line already has attained an altitude 
of 1,500 feet above the sea. Three miles beyond this 
station the iron bridge of San Alejo, spanning one of the 
tributaries of the Atoyac, is crossed ; a structure 318 
feet long and 30 feet above the stream. Sugar-cane and 
coffee plantations now begin, and very beautiful para- 
sites, of the orchid and bromelia species, are seen grow- 
ing upon the forest trees. The line winds around and 
under — through a tunnel 200 feet long — the base of the 
Cerro de Chiquihuite, and immediately after leaving the 
tunnel crosses the Chiquihuite bridge, 220 feet long. 
Presently the fall of the Atoyac is seen — not a very vig- 
orous waterfall in the dry season, however — in the midst 
of dense tropical vegetation. Just before reaching the 
station of Atoyac the iron bridge, 330 feet long, over 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY. 335 

the Atoyac Eiver is crossed. At this station the sharpest 
portion of the ascent begins, a grade of four per cent ; 
and here the powerful double-ender Fairlie locomotives 
are attached to the trains. Between Atoyac and Cor- 
doba, passing through several small tunnels, and travers- 
ing an extraordinarily fertile country clothed with a 
lavish growth, the line rises in a distance of 20 miles 
from an elevation of 1,510 to an elevation of 2,710 feet 
above the sea. The town of Cordoba (which see) lies a 
little more than a mile from the railway, in the midst of 
cane-fields, coffee plantations, and banana groves. The 
fruit for sale at this station, especially the mangoes and 
oranges, is the best that is offered along the line. After 
leaving the little station of Fortin, so named because of 
a ruined fort in the vicinity, the traveller should devote 
his attention very exclusively to the wonders, natural and 
artificial, of the next few miles of the line. The scenery 
here is of surpassing grandeur, and the railway fights its 
■way through this wild place, through five tunnels and 
across three bridges. The great bridge is that which 
crosses the Metlac ravine. This structure is built upon 
a curve of 325 feet radius, on a three per cent grade ; is 
350 feet long, and rises 92 feet above the stream. It is of 
cast- and wrought-iron, rising on eight pillars from bases 
of masonry. A little while after crossing the Metlac 
bridge the beautiful valley of Orizaba comes into view, 
with the snow-capped mountain rising beyond. Just 
before reaching Orizaba, the Cerro del borrego (Hill of 
the Lamb) is rounded. On this sharp acclivity a small 
force of French soldiers, on the 13th and 14th of June, 
1860, routed a much larger force of Mexicans. 

At Orizaba (which see) are the repair shops of the 
railway company. From this point to Maltrata the 
railway runs parallel with the Eio Blanco and crosses 



336 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

three of its tributaries There are several small tunnels, 
in this section. The great feature of this portion of the 
road is the Barranca del Infiernillo — the Kavine of the 
Little Hell — a wild and desolate gorge, dropping almost 
perpendicularly six hundred feet below the ledge on the 
mountain side on which the track is laid. In the far 
depths below is seen a little stream. Beyond the Infier- 
nillo the line comes out into the lovely valley of La 
Joya — The Jewel — in the midst of which, at an elevation 
of 5,544 feet above the sea, is the picturesque town of Mal- 
trata. In long, sweeping curves the line, rapidly rising, 
leaves the valley of La Joya and continues the ascent along 
a terraced way cut in the sides of the mountains. The 
lovely valley, and the red-tiled roofs and red-domed church 
of Maltrata are seen far below. Near the station of La 
Bota — so called because of a spot like a boot on the 
mountain near by — water is taken in ; the source of sup- 
ply being a spring struck in blasting out the grade. 
Winner's Bridge — named for the engineer in charge of 
its construction — 96 feet long and nearly as many feet 
above the stream is crossed, and, after passing through 
a tunnel and a deep cut, the line comes to Boca del 
Monte — the " Mouth of the Mountain " — on the eastern 
edge of the Mexican plateau and 7,849 feet above the sea. 
Practically, the remainder of the run is over level 
country, although the highest point on the road is still a 
few miles farther west. (At Esperanza, a few miles 
beyond, the Fairlie locomotive is detached from the 
train, and an ordinary locomotive substituted). This, 
too, is the end of the strikingly picturesque portion of 
the journey, though between San Marcos and Huaman- 
tla, there is a fine view of the Malintzi close at hand, 
and the show-crowned volcanoes are in sight continuously 
Here, too, the very dusty portion of the journey begins, 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY. 337 

and continues until the train reaches the City of Mexico. . 
At Esperanza, about 1 p.m., a stop of half an hour is 
made for breakfast. A very good meal is provided for 
six reales. The prices for wines and beer are extortion- 
ate. Rooms may be had in the station hotel at $1 a 
day. At this point the east and the west-bound trains 
meet, and the military guard — a rudimentary survival — 
is transferred, the one returning to Vera Cruz and the 
other to the City of Mexico. 

From Esperanza a tramway, 30 miles long, extends to 
Tehuacan (Hotel Diligencias) ; and thence a dihgence is 
run, forty miles farther, to Tecomabapa. 

San Andres Chalchicomula, tying about four miles off 
the line of the railroad, with which it is connected by a 
tramway, is the point of departure in making the dilBfi- 
cult ascent of Orizaba. At San Marcos a bridge over 
the Vera Cruz Hne carries the track of the railway from 
Puebla to San Juan de los Llanos — all that has been 
completed of the road from Puebla to Jalapa via Perote, 
under the concession gxanted May 23, 1868, to Ramon 
Zangronio. From Apizaco a branch line extends to Pue- 
bla, a distance of 29 miles. Between the stations of 
Guadalupe and Soltepec, at the siding of Ococotlan, is 
the highest point on the road, an elevation of 8,333 feet 
above the sea. Excepting a shght ascent between Irolo 
and Ometusco, the train runs from Soltepec to the City 
of Mexico on a constantly descending grade. Apam is 
in the heart of the maguey region, and hereabouts the 
hesi pulque in Mexico can be obtained. That which is sold 
for a medio in httle earthen pots at the stations, however, 
usually is so diluted with water as to be undiinkable. 
From Irolo, a tramway extends to Pachuca, 37 miles dis- 
tant. The Ii'olo line of the Interoceanic Railwa}" also 
connects this town with the City of Mexico. Ii'olo is a 
15 



338 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

very important point for the sMpment of 2^ulque. Both 
the Mexican and the Interoceanic railways run pulque 
trains every morning to the capital. The great planta- 
tions of maguey {agave americana) through which the 
line of the railway passes in this Apam region, indicate 
the extent of the pulque industry. Otumba possesses 
historical importance as the scene of the battle fought by 
Cortez with the Mexicans, July 8, 1520, during his retreat 
after the disaster of the Noche Triste. Darkness falls 
at about this point on the journey. The train enters the 
Valley of Mexico soon after passing Tepexpam, and about 
8 P.M. arrives at the Buena Vista station. 

Coming out from the City of Mexico on the morning 
train, starting at 6.15, as the train leaves the station 
the low dome of Santa Maria de los Angeles is seen on 
the right ; beyond this, to the right, the great church of 
Santiago Tlaltelolco (now a bonded warehouse) adjoin- 
ing the new custom-house ; and on the left the grand 
stand and race-track of the Jockey Club. From this 
point the volcanoes come in sight, and remain in sight 
during the greater part of the day. The sanctuary of 
Guadalupe is passed on the left. From Guadalupe Lake 
Texcoco is seen on the right. Just beyond Guadalupe is 
seen, on the left, a powder-house, a walled enclosure with 
low stone towers. The branch track leading to the little 
town of Socoalco is passed, and the town is seen on the 
left. Further on one of the drainage trenches is crossed. 
About 6.55 salt works are seen on the left, and about 
7.15 the towers of the churches of San Juan de Teoti- 
huacan are seen on the left, and a moment later the Pyr- 
amids of the Sun and Moon (which see). About 7.35 
the branch line leading to the hacienda de Zoapayucan 
is passed, and fifteen minutes later the hacienda is seen 
on the right. At Soltepec, from the eastern end of the plat- 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY. 339 

fonii, there is a peculiarly fine view at this early period of 
the day of the foui* great mountain peaks : Popocate- 
petl, Ixtaccihuatl, Orizaba, and the Malintzi. 

Ajnzaco to Puebla. A few minutes after leaving the 
station at Apizaco, the chapel of Santa Cruz, beside a 
mill and gi*anary, is seen on the right. A moment later, 
on the left, is seen a charmingly composed landscape : a 
water-fall, a bit of canon, and an old gray stone aqueduct. 
Across the valley is seen the brown Malintzi, with the 
smaller Cerro del Pinal at its base. Farther on is seen, 
on the left, the church of San Manuel and a manufactory 
of woollen cloth. The queer little chapel on a hill is the 
Calvario. Then is seen, on the left, the yellow dome of 
San Bernardino. Many deep barrancas are crossed. The 
little urn-shaped adobe buildings seen here, and else- 
where on the line, are granaries. The low stone pillars 
are boundary-marks. Over the hills, to the right, are 
seen the two towers of the Sanctuary of Ocotlan (see 
Tlaxcala). At Santa Anita the tramway, on the right, 
leads to Tlaxcala. Beyond Santa Anita, on the right, is 
seen the lake of Acuitlapiha. When nearing Panzacola 
the large cotton-mill. El Valor, with its red-domed church, 
is seen on the right. Near the station at Panzacola, on 
the right, the large building standing in the midst of a 
park-like enclosure surrounded by high stone walls, is 
the Panzacola iron foundry. After passing this station a 
short distance, on the right is seen the Pyramid of Cho- 
lula crowned with its church. On nearing Puebla the 
rancho de San Juan, a heavy stone building crowning a 
low hill, is seen on the right. Then the towers and 
domes of Puebla come in sight across the plain, with 
blue, low-lying mountains beyond. Just before entering 
the town the old fort of the Loreto is seen on a hill on 
the left ; and beyond this the hill and fort of Guadalupe. 



340 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Vera Cruz to Jalapa. The tramway to Jalapa follows 
the ancient highway that led from Vera Cruz to the City 
of Mexico. The cars are drawn at a brisk pace by four 
mules attached to each, changed about every two hours. 
(On the down trip the mules usually go at a gallop). 
The tramway leaves the line of the Mexican Railway at 
Tejeria ; crosses the sandy chaparral region of the coast, 
and thence onward continues through the rich tropical 
country on the eastern escarpment of the Plateau. At 35 
miles from Mexico the National Bridge is passed, built 
in the early years of the present century. At Plan del 
Rio the Imperial Grenadiers were defeated and made 
prisoners in December, 1822, by General Santa Anna — 
a victory that virtually caused the downfall of the Em- 
peror Yturbide. The hacienda once owned by Santa 
Anna may be seen from the line. At Cerro Gordo a 
victory was gained by the American army May 18, 1847. 
The scenery along almost the whole of the line is extra- 
ordinarily fine. Jalapa (which see) is reached about 
4.30 P.M. 

History. During the two centuries succeeding the 
Conquest the journey between Vera Cruz and the City 
of Mexico was made on horseback, mule-back, or on 
foot. At the beginning of the j)resent century the jour- 
ney was made from Vera Cruz to Jalapa by litter, and 
thence to the capital by coach. A regular diligence line 
was established between Jalapa and the City of Mexico 
in 1833 ; and this was extended a little later to Vera 
Cruz. The first concession for a railway in Mexico was 
given August 22, 1837, by the then President, Don Anas- 
tasio Bustamante, to Francisco Arillaga for a line between 
Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico. This project got no 
farther than a preliminary survey, which pointedly de- 
veloped the enormous difficulties to be overcome in the 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY. 341 

building of tlie road. A new concession was given, 
May 31, 1842, to Joseph Faure, for a line from Vera 
Cruz to the river of San Juan ; and a decree issued at 
the same time by which two per cent, of the duties re- 
ceived at the Vera Cruz custom-house should be devoted 
to building this railroad, and to maintaining the high- 
way leading to Perote. The general direction of the 
work was confided to Antonio Garay, the then Secretary 
of Finance. Under this concession a little more than two 
miles of track was laid at the Vera Cruz end of the line. 
Then the accidental death of M. Faure — caused by a 
fall from his horse while superintending construction — 
brought the work summarily to an end. A new conces- 
sion was given, August 12, 1857, to the brothers Mosso 
for a transcontinental Hne between San Juan and Aca- 
pulco ; and by these concessionaries the line, three miles 
in length, betw^een the City of Mexico and the suburb 
of Guadalupe was brought nearly to completion. Fi- 
nancial difficulties brought the work to an untimety end. 
A decree issued August 31, 1857, declaring all previous 
concessions cancelled, and granting to Don Antonio 
Escandon a new and exclusive concession for a railway 
from Vera Cruz through the City of Mexico to the Pa- 
cific coast. The portion of the line ah-eady constructed 
was purchased by the new concessionary, and two sur- 
vey's — one following the highway through Orizaba, and 
the other the highway through Jalapa — were made. The 
Orizaba route was adopted : and the City of Puebla 
was left off the line because the Ayuntamiento imposed 
upon the concessionary the payment of a very consider- 
able sum for the privilege of bringing the railway into 
the city. Construction had progressed from Vera Cruz 
as far as Tejeria, about ten miles, when the revolution 
of 1857 intervened to stop the work. In 1861 a new 



342 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ooiicession was granted to Senor Escandon that included 
as one of its conditions the obligation to build a branch 
line to Puebla ; and as its most important privilege a 
subvention payable from a loan of $8,000,000 from the 
Government, on which was placed an interest charge of 
five per cent, per annum, the principal payable in 
twenty-five years. The troublous times preceding the 
establishment of the Empire prevented the prosecution 
of the work. In 1864 the Imperial Mexican Company 
was formed, to which Senor Escandon transferred his 
concession. This new organization received the official 
sanction of Maximilian, January 26, 1865. During the 
ensuing two years the line was completed from Vera 
Cruz as far as Paso del Macho, 47 miles ; and from the 
City of Mexico as far as Apizaco, 86 miles. On the fall 
of the Empire, the Republican Government decreed 
(November 27, 1867) that the concession was forfeited, 
because the company had entered into a contract with 
the fictitious government set up in Mexico by the 
French. The concession was renewed (November 10, 
1868) by an Act of Congress ; the " Compania del Ferro- 
carril Mexicana, limitada," was organized ; bonds were 
floated in England ; the work was placed in charge of 
competent English engineers ; an American contractor 
— Mr. Thomas Braniff, the present Resident Director of 
the road — took in hand the more difficult portion of the 
work ; and under these favoring conditions construction 
was carried forward as rapidly as was possible in view 
of the enormous natural obstacles to be overcome. The 
branch road to Puebla, putting that city in direct rail 
communication with the capital, was opened September 
16, 1869 ; and the east and west tracks at last met, in 
the heights above Maltrata, December 20, 1872. The 
ceremony of blessing the road was performed, Decern- 



THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY. 343 

ber 31st, following, in tlie Buena Vista station, by the 
Archbishop of Mexico in person, followed by a solemn 
service of thanksgiving in the cathedral. On January 1, 
1873, an excursion part}^, including President Lerdo de 
Tejada, high officials of the Government, and other dis- 
tinguished persons, left the City of Mexico on two 
special trains and, stopping at every citj and town by 
the wa}' to take part in the popular rejoicing, went down 
to Vera Cruz. This celebration continued for eight 
d&js, ending with the return of the party to Mexico. 
The road was opened to the use of the general public, 
January 22, 1873. 

Due to the wasteful methods of its construction, to its 
many extrinsic misfortunes, and to the enormous outlay 
of money required by the very difficult character of the 
work, this railway, in proportion to its length, is one of 
the costliest railways in the world. The acknowledged 
expenditure of Government funds upon it was $12,575 
000. The total cost of the road — main line, 263 miles ; 
Puebla branch, 30 miles — has been fixed officially (Eeport 
of Secretary of Finance, 1879) at $36,319,526.52. This is 
at the rate of more than $123,000 per mile. The average 
net income of the road has been about $1,500,000 a year. 
The net income, in round numbers, for the year 1885, 
was $1,872,000. 



11, THE 3IEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY. 

Practical Matters. The train is backed across from 
the Mexican side of the river to the station in El Paso 
about half an hour before its time for leaving. The 
sleeping-car, by order of the Mexican custom's officials, 
remains closed until the examination of hand-baggage 



344 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

has been made in Paso del Norte. On through tickets 
from points in the United States 150 pounds of baggage 
is carried free. On local tickets, that is from any point 
to any other point on the line, only 33 pounds of lug- 
gage is carried free. The rates for extra luggage from 
El Paso to the points here named, per 100 pounds, 
are: To Chihuahua, $3.50; Jimenez, |5 ; Lerdo, $6.50 ; 
Calera, $9.75 ; Zacatecas, and all points south thereof, 
$10. Travellers taking the train at San Isidro for the 
City of Mexico probably will effect a saving by shipping 
all extra luggage by express. As a rule, for distances of 
more than 300 miles it will be a little cheaper to send 
extra luggage by express, which includes, also, free de- 
livery. (See Express Service.) For diligence connec- 
tions, see page 369. 

Sights by the Way. A few minutes after leaving the 
station in El Paso the train crosses the Rio Grande on a 
wooden truss bridge to the Mexican town of Paso del 
Norte (which see). Here a stop is made long enough 
for the examination of luggage by the custom's officials, 
and i for a dreary supper in the railway restaurant. 
Aft^r the examination of luggage the Pullman car is 
opened. The train leaves Paso del Norte in the early 
evening, runs all night through a desolate, plain country, 
broken by low ranges of mountains, and arrives at the 
breakfast station. Chihuahua (which see), early on the 
following morning. There is no good reason why trav- 
ellers for pleasure only should stop at Chihuahua. 
From the train may be seen the towers of the beautiful 
parish church, and the low, square tower of the Mint, in 
which Hidalgo was imprisoned — and these two sights 
very nearly comprehend the attractions of the town. 

After leaving the Chihuahua station, the smelter of 
the Santa Eulalia mines is seen on the left, and beyond 



THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY. 345 

this, carried over a stone, arched bridge, the branch 
railway to the mines. Just south of Chihuahua, on the 
right, is the rugged mountain known as the Cerro del 
Coronel — so named because an unlucky colonel in com- 
mand of a party of revolutionists was executed here. 
East of Chihuahua, bordering the wide plain in the midst 
of which the city stands, are the Santa Eulalia moun- 
tains ; and west of the city is the Mapula range. During 
the day the run is made between these ranges (known 
locally by various names) through a desolate plain. In 
the afternoon and evening the train skirts the western 
edge of the lake region, known as the Laguna (lake) 
country, or Bolson (pocket) of Mapiml Near Santa 
Rosalia, passed a little before noon, are mineral springs 
of alleged high curative qualities in diseases of a rheu- 
matic type ; but, as no accommodations for invalids exist, 
they are practically valueless. Just north of the Santa 
Rosalia station the north branch of the Conchqs is 
crossed on a long trestle ; and an hour or two later the 
south branch of the same stream is crossed south of 
Jimenez. At Jimenez a bad dinner is served. Here 
the north-bound train is encountered. Letters stamped 
with Mexican stamps can be mailed in the mail car ; or, 
stamped with American stamps, may take their chances 
in the care of one of the officials, or one of the passen- 
gers, of the north-bound train. Near Conejos, reached 
late in the afternoon, the mountains seen east of tjie 
station — curiously striped in long, perpendicular lines — 
contain deposits of sulphur of which considerable ship- 
ments are made. At Lerdo, on the southern edge of the 
Laguna, a stop is made for what usually is a bad supper, 
though sometimes a happy surprise awaits the traveller 
in the shape of the capital little wild ducks which here- 
abouts abound. Lerdo is the chief shipping-point for 
15* 



346 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the important cotton- growing region of which it is the 
commercial centre. At the towns of Matamoras and San 
Isidro connections, by dihgence, are made with Saltillo, 
on the hne of the Mexican National Railway. 

Fresnillo (second morning from Paso del Norte) is an 
important mining town, dating from the year 1554 — when 
Francisco de Ibarra discovered the now-abandoned Pro- 
ailo mine. In the early morning the train is running 
through a broad plain, with low-lying mountains right 
and left, and the range on which Zacatecas stands ahead. 
A stop is made at the unimportant town of Calera for a 
bad breakfast. From this point, eastward, a group of 
pottery kilns may be seen. The manufacture of pottery 
(see page 10) is one of the prominent industries in this 
region, of which Zacatecas is the centre. A few miles 
south of Calera the ascent of the mountain range begins. 
-^4oi^^~^o^^®^ ^^^ reduction works, enclosed by forti- 
fie^l walls, are seen on the mountain slopes eastward. 
TVie great northern highway is crossed in the course of 
t|de ascent. From the station at Zacatecas (which see) 
t^he very picturesque descent southward begins. The 
[railway winds around the hillside above a deep ravine, 
/on the opposite side of which rises the curiously-shaped 
/ Cerro de la Biifa (buffalo), and in the depths of which 
lies a part of the town together with numerous re- 
duction works. The more striking features of the patio 
reduction process — breaking the ore and amalgamating 
it with quicksilver, by driving horses around through 
the muddy mass — may be seen very well from the car- 
windows. The numerous white stone posts scattered 
over the hiU-side mark the boundaries of the several 
claims. Three miles south of Zacatecas the track passes 
high above the suburb of Guadalupe, built around the 
church dedicated to Mexico's patron saint. Over, and 



THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY. 347 

far beyond this suburb, is seen Lake Pevemaldillo ; and 
on the farther shore of the lake the pottery kilns of 
the little town of Ojo Caliente. Near Soldad, 38 miles 
south of Zacatecas, are several small lakes whence salt 
and carbonate of soda are obtained. 

At Aguas Cahentes (which see) the first and only 
really good meal of the journey is obtained — though at 
Silao, the one remaining eating station on the run south, 
the food is eatable. At Aguas Cahentes, the north-bound 
train is encountered. Thirty miles farther south the 
line crosses a wide and deep barranca, through which 
flows the Encarnacion River. On the eastern side of the 
track a massive stone dam holds the water of the river in 
store for irrigation. The iron bridge at this point, is 
the most important upon the hne. It is 734 feet long 
and is 150 feet above the bed of the stream. From the 
station of Encarnacion, reached a few minutes after the 
bridge has been crossed, the town of Encarnacion is 
seen, a mile or so away, on the west. Its most promi- 
nent feature is the parochial church of the Candelaria, 
with two fine, slender towers and a weak dome. A mile 
beyond the town, on the hill-side, are seen the white 
chapel and white enclosing walls of the Campo Santo 
(parish burial-ground). A Httle south of the town, and 
between it and the railway, is the suburb of San Pedro, 
in which is the sanctuary of San Pedro, crowned by a 
large and very elegant dome. A tramway extends 
through this suburb, from the station to the town. 

At Lagos (which see) connection is made by diHgence 
westward to Guadalajara and eastward to San Luis Po- 
tosi. From the station may be seen the lantern-crowned 
dome and beautiful spires of the parish church. There 
are hedges of organ-cactus here — rare so far north — and 
many trees. The important manufacturing city of 



348 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Leon (which see) is passed in the early evening. From 
the station a part of the city may be seen, including the 
tower of San Miguel, and the dome and tower of the 
cathedral. The stop at Silao (which see) is made after 
nightfall, but through the dusk the graceful tower of the 
parish church may be seen. From this point extends 
the branch line to Guanajuato (which see). A better 
meal can be obtained at a little French restaurant, near 
the station, than at the station eating-house — though 
the food to be procured at this latter is fairly good. 

South of Silao the train passes through the rich farm- 
ing region known as the Bajio (lowland), greatly ravaged 
during the civil wars. At Irapuato, passed about 8,30, 
peculiarly good strawberries are brought to the train for 
sale ; at Salamanca, passed about 9, gloves, leather gar- 
ments, and straw hats, usually may be bought ; and at 
Celaya (which see), passed about 10, may be bought the 
sweetmeats (dulces) for the manufacture of which the 
town is famous. At this point the Mexican Central and 
Mexican National Railways cross. Queretaro (which see) 
is passed a little before midnight. Passengers troubled 
with insomnia can find diversion at this point in bargain- 
ing by torch-light for worthless opals ; and occasionally 
may have the good luck to buy some of the delicious 
Queretaro dulce. South of the city the train passes be- 
neath the great aqueduct, and near the Hercules cotton 
mills — one of the most important manufactories in Mex- 
ico. Later, the train crosses the broad plain of the Caza- 
dero (hunt : so named because of the great hunt organ- 
ized here by the Lidians in the year 1540, as a testimo- 
nial of their good will toward the first Viceroy, Don An- 
tonio de Mendoza) ; and from the border of this plain 
the ascent begins of the mountain chain that borders the 
Valley of Mexico. 



THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILWAY. 349 

At Tula (which see) the ascent of the mountains is 
completed and the line enters the Valley through the 
Tajo de Nochistongo (which see) the great drainage cut 
made to save the City of Mexico from inundation. It is 
quite worth the traveller's while to turn out at 6 a.m., in 
order to see this famous work as the train passes through 
it ; and also to catch a first view — to be had on a clear 
morning — of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, the snow- 
crowned volcanoes on the Valley's eastern edge. At about 
8.30 A.M. the train enters the Buena Vista station, and 
the journey is at an end. Directly across the street from 
the station is a restaurant, where may be had the bread 
and coffee for which, during the last hour of the journey 
the traveller has longed. If a solid meal is required the 
traveller must needs forego his breakfast for yet an- 
other haK hour ; that is, until established in a hotel. 

History. The articles of association of the Mexican 
Central Railway Company, limited, w^ere signed in Bos- 
ton, February 21, 1880. Four days later, February 25th, 
the charter of incorporation was issued under the gen- 
eral raihroad law of Massachusetts. April 3d following, 
President Diaz transferred to Robert R. Symon and 
others the charter (forfeited December 26, 1876) of a 
company also styled the Central ; and this charter at 
once was acquired by the Mexican Central Railway Com- 
pany. Under this charter work was begun. The Mexi- 
can Congress passed a general act, June 1, 1880, au- 
thorizing the President to grant railway concessions. 
September 8th, following, the first gTant under this act 
was made to the Mexican Central Railway Company. 
The company was guaranteed a subsidy of $15,200 per 
mile ($9,500 per kilometre) : given the right to import 
materials for construction free of duty for a term of 
fifteen years ; exempted from taxation for a period of fifty 



350 MEXICAN aUIDE. 

years after tlie completion of all the lines of the projected 
system. By the terms of the concession the entire 
property of the company reverts to the Mexican Govern- 
ment at the expiration of a term of ninety-nine years 
after the completion of the entire projected system. In 
addition to this concession from the Federal Government, 
the company acquired particular rights from various 
State governments, and also purchased the charters of 
several minor lines of road that thereupon were merged 
in its general system. The subsidy was made payable 
in customs certificates, the Government making compul- 
sory the payment of six per cent, of aU customs dues in 
these certificates until September 16, 1884 ; after which 
date the compulsory payment in certificates was to be 
increased to eight per cent. 

The survey of the proposed main line was begun in 
January, 1880 ; and track-laying began September 15th, 
following. The line from El Paso southward was opened 
to Chihuahua, September 16, 1882, and to Yilla Lerdo 
September 1, 1883. The line from the City of Mexico 
northward was opened to Queretaro in February, 1882 ; 
to Leon, in July, 1882 ; to Aguas Calientes in September, 
1883 ; to Zacatecas in December, 1883. The important 
bridge at Encarnacion being completed, the north and 
south tracks met March 8, 1884 ; and the road was opened 
formally on the national festival of the Fifth of May. Four 
calls for subscriptions were made by the board of direc- 
tion, March 17 and December 22, 1880 ; April 12, 1882 ; 
January 25, 1883. The total tender (in American money) 
was about $28,892,500. The total subscription was 
about $31,182,000. Upon the completion of the main 
line, with earnings also of some portions of the branch 
lines then completed, the company had earned in sub- 
sidies about $18,000,000 in Mexican money. Up to the 



THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 351 

time when (by tlie law of June 22, 1885) payment of sub- 
sidies was suspended, the company actually had received 
from the Mexican Government in cash certificates the sum 
of $3,724,055.31 Mexican money. The gross earnings of 
the road for the year ending May 1, 1885, were $3,428,- 
169.24 ; for the year ending May 1, 1886, $3,539,412.61. 
The operating expenses for the same periods were, $2,- 
299,752.76 and $2,204,379.16. So far, the road has not 
justified the hopes of its builders. This has been due, 
in part, to the inability of the Mexican Government to 
fulfil its obligations in the matter of the subsidy ; in' 
part to the dulness of trade, not only in Mexico, but in 
the United States. But it also has been due to the too 
sanguine belief that a railroad in a Spanish American 
country would create traffic for itself, as is done by rail- 
roads in the United States. 

In addition to the main line north and south, the con- 
cession to the Mexican Central Railway Company pro- 
vides for an. east and west hne from Tampico, on the 
Gulf, through San Luis Potosi to the main line at 
Aguas Calientes ; and westward from the main line, at 
Irapuato, through Guadalajara to the Pacific port of San 
Bias. In November, 1886, the line from Tampico had 
been completed to El Salto (101 miles) and work was 
going on slowly. As yet, no passenger trains have been 
run on this section. 



III. TEE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 

Practical Matters. At Laredo there is a local ex- 
press company that transfers luggage between the station 
of the International (from San Antonio) and that of the 
Mexican National, for twenty-five cents for each piece. 
An omnibus carries passengers between these points for 



352 MEXICATT GUIDE. 

twenty-five cents. Carriages may be hired at either sta- 
tion. There is a very fair restaurant at the Mexican Na- 
tional station, where breakfast or supper can be had for 
seventy-five cents. A chair car is attached to the Mexi- 
can National train, for the use of which an extra rate is 
charged. The shady side is to the right. Between La- 
redo and Monterey there is little choice of side, so far as 
view is concerned. Between Monterev and Saltillo, the 
choice is slightly in favor of seats on the left — but 
both sides of the line between these points afford views 
of such wonderful grandeur that the most desirable point 
of view is the rear platform, at least until the train has 
passed the little station of Ojo Caliente. 

On the northern division, on through tickets from 
points in the United States, 150 pounds of baggage is 
allowed. On local tickets on the northern division, and 
on all tickets on the southern division, the allowance of 
baggage is 33 pounds (15 kilograms). 

On the southern division the preferable side, in leav- 
ing the City of Mexico, is the right. This is the shady 
side in the morning, and the side from w ich the best 
\iew can be had in the afternoon. The first-class cars at 
this end of the line are only ordinary passenger cars. 
Coffee and bread can be procured in the station restau- 
rant at La Colonia. For dihgence connections, see com- 
pany's time-table. 

Sights by the Way. Main line, north. A few min- 
utes after leaving the Laredo station, the Rio Grande is 
crossed on a high wooden trestle, and immediately there- 
after the train is halted at the Nuevo Laredo station for 
the examination of luggage by the Mexican customs offi- 
cials. (See Custom-house Regulations.) After leaving 
Nuevo Laredo the train runs for several hours through a 
desolate chaparral plain ; but when this dreary region is 



THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 353 

passed the scenery thence onward almost to Saltillo is 
extraordinarily line. Beyond Lampazos, to the right, is 
seen a long, level-crested mountain, the mesa (table) de 
I OS Cartujanos. It is an elevated table-land, 1,400 feet in 
perpendicular height, of about 80,000 acres. In ancient 
times it was the home of the so-called Indian tribe of 
C:a'tujanos (Carthusians), whose name, possibh'', was de- 
rived from the establishment among them of a Benedic- 
tine mission. A path about five feet wide and three 
miles long leads to the summit — the precipitous sides 
rendering other access impossible. Being plentifully 
wooded and watered, with an abundance of grass, and 
being thus isolated, it is the finest stock range in the 
world. Lampazos, 72 miles from Laredo, on the con- 
fines of the free zone, has been for many years a notori- 
ous resort of smugglers. Bustamante, 105 miles from 
Laredo, is one of the several frontier settlements of Tlas- 
calans made between the years 1680 and 1690 for the 
purpose of holding in check the Indians of the North. 
As Monterey is approached the Cerro de la Silla (Saddle 
Mountain), with its cleft crest, is seen on the left ; beyond 
this, and to its right, is seen the Cerro de las Mitras (the 
Mountain of the Mitres), and between the two is seen, 
rising sheer from the plain beyond the cit}'-, the great 
purj^le mass of the Sierra. (See Monterey.) 

After leaving Monterey the line follows the valley of 
the San Juan, the valley decreasing in width as it ascends 
toward the Plateau. Near Santa Catarina a curious 
hole may be seen, to the left, through the crest of the 
mountain. At Garcia are two remarkable caves, Be- 
t we ej* Monterey and Garcia the mountain scenery scarce- 
ly can be surpassed in grandeur — the mountains on 
each side of the valley, exquisite in reddish and pur- 
plish colorings, rising up in sheer, bare masses to a 



354 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

great height. Only less impressive is the scenery onward 
through the canon of the San Juan until Los Muertos 
(so named because of an Indian massacre there in ancient 
times) with, on the left, its beautiful glimpse of the 
river flowing beneath great ahuehuetes, is passed, and 
the train reaches the first escarpment of the Plateau. 
Thence onward until Saltillo is reached the valley 
widens, the mountains decrease in height and are far- 
ther away, and the outlook ceases to be especially pic- 
turesque, 

Main line^ south. As the train leaves the Colonia 
station, in the Western suburb of the City of Mexico, 
the hacienda of the Teja is seen on the left. A little 
farther on the tree of the Noche Triste, beside the little 
church of San Esteban, is seen on the right. To 
the left, Chapultepec is seen across the valley, with the 
towns of Tacubaya and San Angel on the foot-hills be- 
yond. Passing close by the large church of San Gabriel, 
the parish church of Tacuba, the line crosses the high- 
way and, presently, begins to ascend the Valley of Los 
E-emedios. From a point beyond the station of San 
Bartolome Naucalpan, the Sanctuary of Los Remedioa 
(which see), is seen on a hill on the right ; and a Httle 
farther west the towers and arches of the abortive water- 
works. At Eio Hondo the line already is well up thci 
flanks of the Monte de las Cruces — so called because oi 
the many crosses along this pass which marked the 
graves of travellers slain by highwaymen, or of highway- 
men shot by the officers of the law. Up the rugged 
Hondo Valley the line is carried along the edges of and 
across deep barrancas — as the rincon del laurel — and over 
the great barranca of the two rivers (dos rios) on an iron 
bridge 200 feet long and 90 feet above the streams. 
From the bridge may be seen, to the left, the church of 



THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 355 

Huisqiiilucan and, in the depths of the ravine, farther 
away, the church and village of " the little Saint Francis " 
— San Francisquito. Near the top of the ascent is the 
timnel of San Martin, 721 feet long. Up to this point 
the ascent affords a series of beautiful views of the Valley 
of Mexico ; the mountain slopes, along which the line is 
carried, in the foreground ; the city, Chapultepec, Gua- 
daluj)e, and the lakes in the middle distance ; the encir- 
chng mountains in the background ; the snow-peaks of 
the volcanoes rising over all. To get this view at its 
best, the joui-ney should be made in the afternoon. 

Upon the relatively level ground of the crest of the 
range the scenery — mountain meadows enclosed by walls 
of rock — is very Hke that of the Colorado parks. Near the 
station of Salazar — but upon the wagon-road, invisible 
from the train — is the monument, now falling into ruin, 
erected October 30, 1851, in commemoration of the 
battle of Las Cruces, fought here October 30, 1811, in 
which Hidalgo gained a positive victory over the royalist 
forces. Beyond Salazar, after passing through a small 
canon, the tres pefias, three picturesque rocks which 
seem to have strayed away from Monument Park in Col- 
orado, are seen on the right. The stream seen at this 
point, beside which the line descends, is the river Lerma. 
The divide is crossed at La Cima, on the western edge of 
the plain of Salazar, at a height of 10,635 feet above the 
level of the sea. 

The descent into the Toluca Valley is almost as pic- 
turesque as the ascent from the Valley of Mexico. The 
hne follows the windings of the Lerma, affording a suc- 
cession of views of the valley below, and of the quiescent 
volcano, the Nevado de Toluca, on its farther side. The 
track is carried across a number of barrancas of greater 
or less depth, the largest of which is that of Jajalpa, in 



356 MEXICAIS' GUIDE. 

wliicli the stream is seen 115 feet below. On the left, 
at the foot of the precipitate mountain side is seen the 
town of Ocoyoacac ; and, farther away, the httle towns of 
Santiago Tianguistengo and Capulhuac. 

The village of Lerma, beside the lake of the same 
name, is uninteresting. The large parish church, with 
beauiiful spire and dome, contains neither pictures nor 
sculptures of importance. Toward the end of the six- 
teenth century this point, on the great highway to the 
Pacific ports, was a famous resort for robbers. In order 
not to spoil their own tiade by driving travel absolutely 
off the highway, the freebooting fraternity instituted a 
regular system of tolls ; a pro-rata payment on all val- 
uables carried over the road. The robber band finally 
was broken up by one Martin Boelin de Varejou, about 
the year 1613. In return for his good work, Varejon 
was given permission to ask a favor of the king, and he 
asked that the village which he had purged of its robber 
denizens should receive the official title of La Gran Ciu- 
dad de Lerma. Therefore this town of less than twelve 
hundred inhabitants officially is styled the Great City of 
Lerma, even until the present day. 

The railway crosses in a straight line, parallel with 
the old highway, the level valley to the city of Toluca 
(which see). From Toluca, ahead, and later, as the train 
advances, abeam and astern to the right, is seen a very 
beautiful dome-like mountain : the Gerro del Senor — the 
Hill of our Lord. This was a place of pilgrimage in 
times past, and with a strong field-glass it is possible to 
distinguish the little sanctuary that now is falling into de- 
cay. At and beyond Toluca houses with red-tiled roofs 
are seen, and grow more common until they become the 
rule. In the fields great dams of heavy masonry hold 
the water in store for irrigation. The line passes 



THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 357 

through the Ixtlahuaca tunnel and over the gently sloping 
plain beyond, where the town of Ixtlahuacan is seen at a 
distance of about two miles on the right. In the midst 
of this plain is Flor de Maria, the breakfast station. An 
excellent meal is served here for six reales. Beer, two 
reales the bottle ; wines at not very unreasonable rates. 
The line leaves the Ixtlahuaca Valley along a terraced 
way, high above the caiion of Tultenango, or Zopilotes 
(seats here on the right), and descends by a series of 
sharp grades (rear platform here) into the valley of Solis. 
Looking back a very fine view is had of the sheer cliffs, 
along the sides of which the train has passed ; and to 
the right, the rounded top of the mountain known as the 
Mineral del Oro, that derives its name from the gold 
workings carried on upon its flanks. The character of 
the mountains changes here from the sharp, craggy 
peaks on the other side of the divide to long, flowing, 
curving lines. After rounding the shoulder of another 
mountain, the valley of Maravatio is entered, and the 
town of the same name (which see) is seen. Rounding 
another mountain shoulder above the Cathedral CaHon 
— so named because of the effect of gothic architecture 
produced by the erosion of the rocks — the Hne enters the 
Acambaro Yalley and parallels the Lerma, Hned with 
great trees growing close to and in the water, to Acam- 
baro. Before that town is reached the picturesque 
church and village of San Jose is seen on the right. 

At Acambaro (which see) a stop of twenty minutes is 
made — long enough for Mexican passengers to get a cup 
of afternoon coffee at the very fair restaurant at the sta- 
tion. At this point the western division (which see, be- 
low) unites with the main line. After passing Acambaro 
the main Hne crosses a bushy plain, and thence contin- 
ues down the Valley of the Lerma. This valley is thickly 



358 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

studded with picturesque Indian villages — the houses of 
stone, with high, peaked, thatched roofs. Just after 
passing the first of these, a pretty waterfall is seen on 
the left, where the river, here quite wide, falls over 
a low ledge of rocks. And hereabouts the softly rounded 
mountains begin again. At Salvatierra (which see) the 
Hne passes close by the important woollen mill which is 
the principal commercial feature of the town. Sugar- 
cane is seen growing here, remarkable as being, perhaps, 
the highest elevation — very nearl}^ 6,000 feet — at which 
the cane is grown. North of Salvatierra the line crosses 
through a broken country from the Valley of the Lerma 
to the Valley of the Laja. At Celaya (which see) the 
Mexican Central Railway is crossed. 

By the time that Celaya is reached darkness has fallen, 
and the remaining point of especial interest, the beauti- 
ful Canon of the Laja, must be enjoyed as the return 
journey is made by dayhght. But should there by 
chance be a moon, the traveller should betake himself 
to the back platform as the train passes through this 
canon ; and he will see one of the most weirdly beauti- 
ful sights in Mexico. The train arrives at San Miguel de 
Allende (which see), the present northern terminus of 
the southern division, a little before 10 p.m. The station 
is about two miles from the town, and separated from 
it by a deep valley with long, gently sloping sides. 

Western division. On leaving Acambaro the Hne as- 
cends the mountain slope west of the town, and from 
this height there is a lovely view over the valley, broken 
by many little lakes. After crossing the divide the 
line enters the lake country, skirting for many miles the 
large lake of Cuitzeo, that is alive with wild-fowl. The 
large mills, unfinished, and the unfinished aqueduct, just 
beyond the fine Hacienda de Andocutin, are the remains 



THE MEXICAN NATIONAL KAILWAY. 359 

of an abortive manufacturing enterprise of forty years 
ago. Along the edge of the lake are numerous works 
for tlie extraction of salt by primitive methods of evap- 
oration. The little town of Arraro is supported by this 
industry. 

Morelia (which see) is reached about 6 p.m. Bej^ond 
this city the double peaks of the Cerro de Quinceo are 
seen on the left, and mountains continue close at hand 
until the end of the run. About five miles beyond Mo- 
relia, on the right, a glimpse may be had of a charming 
waterfall — el salto de la huerta. At Undameo there is a 
fine stone bridge across the river built for the passage of 
the traffic with the west coast. Crossing a low divide, 
beyond Coapa, the Hne bends to the north and passes 
the hacienda of Ibarra, almost at the water's edge. Lake 
Patzcuaro (passed after dark, however), surrounded by 
forest-clad hills and studded with islands, is even more 
beautiful than Lake Cuitzeo. The line turns south from 
the edge of the lake, and terminates at the foot of the 
hill on which the town of Patzcuaro (which see) stands. 
A steamboat service on Lake Patzcuaro will begin early 
in 1887. 

H istory. A concession, generally known as the Palmer- 
Sullivan concession, was granted to the Mexican National 
Construction Company by an act of the Mexican Congress 
of September 13, 1880, for the following named Hues of 
railway : From the City of Mexico to the Pacific coast at 
the port of Manzanillo, or between that point and La 
Navidad, passing through the towns of Toluca, Maravatio, 
Acambaro, Morelia, Zamora, and La Piedad ; and from a 
point on the foregoing line between Maravatio and Mo- 
relia to a point on the northern frontier at Laredo, or be- 
tween Laredo and Eagle Pass, passing through the towns 
of San Luis Potosi, Saltillo, and Monterey j the railway 



360 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

thus constructed to be three feet gauge. An additional 
concession, given January 10, 1883, granted the right to 
extend this system from the port of Matamoras, through 
Mier, to Monterey ; and from San Luis Potosi, through 
Zacatecas, to La,gos. These concessions guaranteed the 
payment of a subvention of $11,270 per mile (|7,000) per 
kilometre) on the line from the City of Mexico to the 
Pacific, and of $10,460 per mile ($6,500 per kilometre) 
on the line to the northern frontier. To secure the pay- 
ment of this subsidy the Government agreed to issue to 
the company, on the completion of each section of 100 
kilometres (62 miles), railroad construction certificates 
representing the value of the subsidy earned ; and to 
make obligatory the payment of six per cent of all fron- 
tier and maritime custom-house dues in this scrip. The 
concession granted the right to bring into the country 
free of duty materials to be used in railroad construction 
and operation ; right of way, without indemnity, over 
Government lands ; right to free use of material suitable 
to construction found on Government lands ; right to all 
mineral deposits discovered, subject to the operation of 
the general mining laws ; right of exemption from taxa- 
tion, and other privileges and immunities. By the terms 
of the concession the company was bound to complete 
at least 450 kilometres (280 miles) of track every two 
years ; the line to the Pacific within five years ; the line 
to the northern frontier within eight years ; these several 
terms running from September 13, 1880. The concession 
further provided that at the end of ninety-nine years the 
railway should revert to the Government, with the right 
to purchase from the company its rolling stock, build- 
ings, etc., at an appraised value ; also, that should the 
Government then decide to lease the line, the company 
should have the right of preference as lessee. By the 



THE MEXICAN NATIONAL RAILWAY. 861 

law of June 30, 1886, this cou cession was amended and 
modified. This law extended the time within which the 
entire line must be completed to ten years from July 15, 
1886 ; reduced to 250 kilometres (155 miles) the section 
of track to be completed in each period of two years ; 
imposed a fine of $15,000 should this clause not be 
fulfilled on the main line north and south ; made the 
subsidy payable upon each completed section of 25 kilo- 
metres (15^ miles) ; confined the free importation of 
materials to a liberal list of specified articles ; authorized 
the construction of the whole, or of any part, of the line of 
standard (4 ft. 8^ in.) gauge, and modified minor points 
of the original contract, On July 1, 1886, a modifica- 
tion of the contract in regard to payments of subsidy 
became effective. This provided that the payments 
should be made at the rate of three-fourths of one per 
cent, of the custom-house receipts for the half year end- 
ing June 30, 1887 ; and should increase half-j^early there- 
after, until July 1, 1890, after which date the payment 
of six per cent, of the custom's receipts should be re- 
sumed. 

Construction began October 14, 1880. The northern 
division was completed from Laredo, through Monterey 
to Saltillo, 236 miles, September 14, 1883 ; the southern 
division was completed from the City of Mexico, through 
Toluca, Acambaro, and Celaya, to San Miguel de Allende, 
254 miles, November 29, 1883 — leaving a section of 364 
miles to be completed on the main line. The Pacific 
Division was completed from Acambaro, through MoreHa, 
to Patzcuaro, 98 miles, June 1, 1886. The Matamoras 
division is completed to San Miguel (not to be con- 
founded with San Miguel de Allende), 75 miles. The 
section between Zacatecas and the suburb of Guadalupe, 
5 miles, operated at present by animal traction, was pur- 
16 



362 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

chased in 1881. The company also has acquired by 
purchase the Hne between the City of Mexico and El 
Salto, 41 miles ; and the line (through the State of 
Texas) from Laredo to the port of Corpus Christi, 161 
miles. A few miles of track has been laid east from the 
port of Manzanillo. By the concession of June 2, 1883, 
the company was granted the right to construct a line 
of railway completely around the City of Mexico (making 
connections with the several railways) with branch lines 
to Tlalpam, San Angel, and Contreras. Of this line, 
known as the Gintura, or Belt, the important section 
that connects the several railways entering the city with 
the Mexican tracks is completed and in operation. In 
all, the company now has 933 miles of railway open to 
traffic. 



IV. THE INTEEOGEANIC BAILWAY. 

Practical Information. The two divisions of this 
line (which connect at Los Reyes, ten miles out) start 
from separate stations in the City of Mexico, the Peral- 
villo and San Lazaro, both on the eastern side of the 
city (see map). A time-table is published in The Two 
BepubUcs. The baggage allowance with each ticket is 
33 pounds. In going to Irolo, the journey can be made 
more comfortably by the Mexican Railway ; but expe- 
ditions by this line certainly should be made to Texcoco, 
Amecameca, and Cuautla. 

The Interoceanic Railway, built under a concession 
granted in April, 1878, is intended to connect Vera Cruz 
and Acapulco, via the City of Mexico. The Morelos di- 
vision is completed to Yautepec, a point 98 miles south- 
west, and the Irolo division to Calpulalpam, a point 74 
miles northeast of the City of Mexico. 



THE INTEEOCEANIC RAILWAY. 363 

Sights by the Way. Irolo division. On leaving the 
Peralvillo station there is a veiy fine view of the city, 
with the church of La Soledad conspicuous in the fore- 
ground. The long, reel-brick building, on the outskirts 
of the city, is the Government Artillery School (distinct 
from the Chapultepec institution). The adobe butts, 
used for artillery practice, may be seen a half mile or 
more eastward of the building. Lake Texcoco is seen 
on the left. The canal of San Lazaro is crossed, and im- 
mediately thereafter is passed the Peuon — its most con- 
spicuous building, the large bathing enclosure, within 
which is the church. The side-track here extends to 
stone-crushing machinery. From a little beyond the 
Peiion the line parallels that of the Morelos division to 
the station of Los Reyes, where the two tracks are close 
together. From this point the line swings to the north- 
east and skii*ts the lake, though at a considerable dis- 
tance from it. Soon after leaving Los Eeyes the quaint 
little adobe town of Tecamachalco is passed on right, and 
on left the larger town of La Magdalena. Later, on left, 
a walled corral, with flanking towers, over which is seen 
the church of Chimalhuacan ; far away, to right, with a 
background of blue hills, the dome of San Vicente de 
Chicoloapam ; on right, still against the blue hills, the 
tall towers of the church of Cautlenchan ; near, on left, 
the tower of San Bernardino ; far away on right the 
churches of Xotla ; on left, close to track, the gaudy 
rancho, belonging to General Gonzales, of Chapingo ; 
on hill on right, towers and dome of San Diego. Then 
Texcoco (which see) is reached. Beyond Texcoco, the 
most notable sight on the road is the great aqueduct 
near Zempoala — built about the middle of the sixteenth 
century by Fray Francisco Tembleque, and still, al- 
though in bad order, substantially sound. This great 



364 MEXICAN GFJIDE. 

work, usually spoken of as the Arcos de Zempoala, is 
thirty seven miles long, is carried across three valleys 
on high arches, and has (near the point passed by the 
railroad) one arch that is 82 feet high with a span of 64 
feet. From Texcoco to Irolo the line runs through the 
pulque country. 

Morelos division. On leaving the station of San 
Lazaro, the Artillery School is seen on the left, with the 
hill of the Pen on and Lake Texcoco beyond. As far as 
Los Reyes the line parallels the ancient causeway, for- 
merly the highway to Puebla. On right is seen the 
marshy borders of Lake Chalco, alive with wild-ducks. 
At Ayotla, a very picturesque adobe town with hedges of 
organ-cactus, fresh fish are sold in baskets (four reales) 
and a cheese made hereabouts, put up in rushes (one real), 
that is not nearly so good as it looks. From this point 
the volcanoes come into sight, and are the chief feature 
of the landscape during the remainder of the journey. 
At La Compania tramways lead to Chalco (on the right) 
and to Tlalmanalco (on the left). Beyond La Compania, 
on left, is the town of Cuatlenchan, built upon the 
long steep side of a high hill that is crowned by the 
church. The line skirts the base of the Sacro Monte 
(see Amecameca) and cuts directly across the pathway 
formerly followed by the rehgious processions between 
the parish church and the shrine. Until the little tovni 
of Ozumba is reached the grade is upward, from the 
bottom of the Valley of Mexico to a pass in the encu'chng 
mountains. A very fair breakfast is seiwed at Ozumba 
for four reales. Wine, one dollar a bottle ; beer, two 
reales ; excellent pulque free. This place is famous for 
its delicious bread. 

From Ozumba the descent begins. Its steepest por- 
tion is in the next ten miles, where the line twists back- 



THE INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY. 365 

wai'd and forward along the sharp declivity in order to 
obtain a sufficiently easy grade. At several points in this 
ciu'ving descent three lines of track at different eleva- 
tions he close together. From Nepantla, a place famous 
as the bu'th of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (see Ame- 
cameca) the descent is much less steep ; but all the way 
to Cuautla the road is down hill. Throughout this de- 
scent the rugged scenery, dominated by the snow-capped 
volcano, is sui-passingly fine. For a long while during 
the descent the great church of San Miguel in the Indian 
town of Atlatlahutla, is in sight on the right ; and when 
the train passes south of it the large monastery, now 
abandoned, is seen. The tovsm really is large, but the 
many straw-thatched huts are so small, and so hidden by 
the trees, that the great church seems to stand alone. 
Another Indian village farther on, Tetetlecingo, is not- 
able for the cuiious nomenclature of its inhabitants. 
The mayor is named Watermelon, and among the lead- 
ing famihes are the Scorpions, Squashes, Snakes, Peaches, 
Fleas, Apricots, and Spiders ! The cuiious little circu- 
lar buildings of adobe, with conical thatches of straw, fre- 
cjuently seen during the descent, are used in some cases as 
granaries ; when a little elevated from the ground, with 
a place for a fire beneath, they are used as vapor- baths. 
Near Yecapixtla, on the left, are seen a number of large 
trees, looking very hke open umbrellas. The level regu- 
larity of their lower branches is due to the cropping of 
cattle : every twig within reach has been eaten away. 
As Cuautla is approached the large sugar hacienda of 
Santa Ines is seen on the right. Beyond Cuautla (which 
see) the line continues through the cane-country, girdled 
by magnificent mountains, to Yautepec — a charming 
little town in which all the picturesque features of 
Cuautla are repeated, and are intensified by advantages 



366 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

of situation which Cuautla does not possess. This is 
the present terminus of the line. Hence horses may be 
taken to Cuernavaca, a ride of about five hours ; and 
from Cuernavaca the return to the City of Mexico may be 
made by dihgence. 



V. MINOR LINES OF TRAVEL. 

Railways. A railway map of Mexico that includes 
the projected hues of railway looks not unlike a railway 
map of Illinois ; and the actual mileage of Mexican rail- 
ways really is surprisingly large when the conditions 
under which the lines have been built are remembered, 
with the fact that, practically, all the building has been 
done witliin the past ten years. The Sonora Railway was 
built under a concession granted September 14, 1880 ; 
was ready for trafiic in October, 1882, and was opened 
formally November 25th, following. This line extends 
from Benson, Arizona, through the frontier towTi of No- 
gales, southwest to the port of Guaymas (which see) on 
the Gulf of California, a distance of 363 miles. The run- 
ning time is seventeen hours. The baggage allowance 
between Benson and Nogales is 100 pounds ; between 
Nogales and points south, 30 pounds. This is not yet a 
route known to tourists, but it deserves to be. There is a 
great deal of fine scenery along the line of the road, espe- 
cially as it nears the coast ; delicious fruits abound ; and 
from Guaymus (see Coastwise Steam Lines) expeditions 
can be made easily along the beautiful west coast of Mexico. 

The International Railway^ is built from Piedras Ne- 
gras (opposite Eagle Pass) to Monclova. A very profit- 
able little road has been built between Merida and the 
port of Progreso, a distance of 28 miles (first class 

* Inquiries concerning this railway remain unanswered. 



MINOR LINES OF TRAVEL. 367 

fare, one dollar), for the carriage of benequen. A line 
extends from Puebla to San Juan de los Llanos, about 
35 miles. A line is in operation from Vera Cruz, Me- 
dellin, a distance of about 15 miles. In addition to 
steam lines, long lines of tramways, operated by animal 
traction, are numerous. The more important of these 
are the lines from Puebla to San Martin Texmelucan, 
about 20 miles ; from Puebla to Atlixco, 29 miles ; 
from Irolo to Pachuca, 37 miles ; and the line (see Mex- 
ican Railway) from Vera Cruz to Jalapa, 70 miles. The 
Mexicans have taken very kindly to tramways. They are 
cheaper to build and to oj)erate than steam railways, and 
are a less violent transition from pack trains, carts, and 
stage coaches. Almost every city in the republic now is 
provided with street railways, and the tendency to ex- 
tend the lines into the country is very marked. On both 
the city and suburban lines freight cars are run, and the 
freight traffic of the longer Hnes of tramway is an impor- 
tant item of the general receipts. 

Diiigence Lines. The very fair diligence service 
throughout the greater portion of Mexico enables an en- 
ergetic traveller, blessed with a fair allowance of health 
and bodily strength, to go ahnost anywhere. Informa- 
tion in regard to the lines of southern and southwestern 
Mexico may be obtained in the Capital, at the Officina 
General de Diligencias, in the rear of the Yturbide Hotel. 

Two diligence lines are run between Saltillo, the 
present Mexican National terminus (northern division) 
and points on the Mexican Central Railway. Sada's 
line leaves Saltillo at 5 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 
and arrives the next evening at 6 p.m. at San Isidro. 
The noi-th-bound train is due at San Isidro about 2 
A.M. ; the south-bound train about 1 a.m.. The only 
waiting-place is a forlorn room. Tena's line leaves Sal- 



368 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

tillo at 4 A.M. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
and arrives at Matamoras at noon the next day. The 
south-bound train is due here about 8 p.m., and the north- 
bound at 7 A.M. The fare by either of these hnes is $15, 
exclusive of food and lodging by the way. Tv^^enty-five 
pounds of baggage is carried free. The excess rate for 
baggage is eight cents a pound by Sada's line, and ten 
cents a pound by Tena's line. The return trips are made 
from San Isidro, at 5 a.m., on Mondays and Thursdays, and 
from Matamoros, at 7.15 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, 
and Fridays. In case of any delay less than twenty-four 
hours, stages do not start until the arrival of the trains. 
On Sada's line special coaches can be hired for any day. 

The stage connections of the Mexican Central Railway 
are shown in the table on next page. 

Coastwise Steam Lines. Local agents should be 
consulted in regard to sailings, as the dates given below 
are liable to change. 

Vera Cruz and New Orleans, calling at Tuxpan and 
Tampico. Saihngs every seventeen days. 

Progreso and Frontera, calling at Champoton and Car- 
men. Sailings irregulaar. 

Pacific Mail Steamship Go. Steamers leave New York 
on the 1st and 20th, and Panama on the 12th and 31st 
of every month. Steamers leave San Francisco on the 
1st and 15th of every month. On both up and down 
trips, calls are made at Acapulco, Manzanillo, San Bias, 
and Mazatlan. 

California and Mexican Steamship Co. The steamer 
Newhern sails from Guaymas on the 17th of each month 
for La Paz and Mazatlan. 

Redo Line. The steamer Alejandro sails twice each 
month from Guaymas for La Paz, Altata, Mazatlan, San 
Bias, Chamela, and Manzanillo. 



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370 MEXICAN GUIDE. 



VL PUEBLA DE L OS ANGELES. 

Station to Hotel. Tramways lead from the several 
railway stations to the Plaza Mayor, fare 6^ cents. Car- 
riages from the principal hotels meet arriving trains at 
the station of the branch line of the Vera Cruz Eail- 
way. The drivers of these carriages will attend to the 
transfer of luggage, at a charge of two reales for each 
piece. 

Hotels. At the Hotel Diligencias, a very picturesque 
establishment, reasonably comfortable rooms, and fair 
food can be had for $2 a day and upward, according to 
rooms. Very similar accommodations, though with less 
picturesque surroundings, can be had at the Hotel Es- 
pafiol at the same price. The Hotel Universal is not 
quite so good as these, though its prices practically are 
the same, but it is worth seeing because of its curious 
tiled walls and tiled patio. The Gran Hotel de America, 
at the northeast corner of the Plaza Mayor, has a pleas- 
ant outlook, but does not profess to be quite first-class 
The rates here are : for a room facing on the Calle de la 
Compaiiia, six reales a day ; meals (coffee, breakfast, and 
dinner), six reales a day. At all of these hotels a con- 
siderable reduction will be made for terms of a week or 
a month. 

Baths. The warm baths of San Pablo, five blocks 
west and three blocks north of the Plaza Mayor ; and 
of Santiago, on the west side of the Paseo Nuevo, are de- 
lightful. There are baths also in the Estanque de los 
Pescaditos, two blocks north and three blocks east of 
the Plaza Mayor ; and in the Hotel Universal in the 
first block from the northeast corner of the Plaza Mayor. 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 371 

Public Offices. The post-office is in the block east 
from the southeast rear corner of the cathedral. The 
telegraph office is one block east and half a block north 
of the Plaza Maj^or. The custom-house is in the second 
block east from the southeast corner of the Plaza Mayor. 
The office of the diligence company is in the Hotel de 
Diligencias. 

Shopping. The more characteristic products of Pu- 
ebla are baskets and mats made of colored straw, that 
may be bought in the market ; fruit and other objects 
wrought from Puebla onyx, which, with clay figures, may 
be bought in the principal shops ; tiles and pottery (see 
page 10) which can be bought to the best advantage at 
the potteries — as the Fabrica de Guadalupe and other 
establishments east of the Matamoras (Cholula) railway 
station ; and a peculiarly good soap that may be bought 
in the grocery stores (liendas). 

Tramways and Carriages. — Tramways extend from 
the Plaza Mayor to all parts of the city, cars are run at 
intervals of fifteen minutes. Fare, 6^ cents. Carriages 
may be hired m the Plaza Mayor for four reales an hour. 
The most comfortable carriage to be hired in the city 
can be procured at the Hotel Espanol for six reales an 
hour. 

Railway Excursions. — Several railways centre in 
Puebla, affording possibilities of interesting excursions 
into the surrounding country. All of these, with the ex- 
ception of the steam line to San Marcos, and thence to 
San Juan de los Llanos, are operated by animal traction. 
Private cars can be hired at reasonable rates, excepting 
on the San Marcos steam line, and for any hour. A car 
to and from Cholula, seating sixteen people, can be hired 
at the Matamoras station for $10 — and affords by far the 
pleasanter way of making this expedition. 



372 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Site and Characteristics. — ^Puebla, capital of the 
state of the same name, a city of 70,000 inhabitants, at 
an elevation of 7,100 feet above the sea, is at the extrem- 
ity of a branch line from the Mexican Railway, 117 miles 
from the City of Mexico, and 207 miles from Vera Cruz. 
It maintains extensive manufactories of cotton cloth, pot- 
tery, and glass-ware, together with minor manufactures, 
and is the centre of a very considerable general trade. 
It is built on uneven ground, on the side of a gently slop- 
ing hill ; a fortunate arrangement that makes its drain- 
age excellent, and that, by lessening the severe effect 
of its aggressive right-angles, adds materially to its pic- 
ture squen ess. The two great volcanoes, Popocatepetl and 
Ixtacclhuatl, are in full view, west of the city, and, be- 
ing much closer than to the City of Mexico, and without 
intervening foot-hills, are far more impressive and mag- 
nificent. (See below, Suburbs.) The streets are de- 
lightfully clean, and comparatively broad. The street- 
crossings are little causeways — very necessary during the 
rainy season. A striking feature of the city is the lavish 
architectural use of richly colored glazed tiles. Not only 
upon the domes and outer and inner walls of the churches 
are these tiles used, but for exterior and interior decora- 
tion of a great majority of the houses. One of the most 
curious houses in the city, in the first Calle de Mercaderes, 
has its entire front covered in tile mosaic work. In this 
respect the church of Nuestra Sefiora de la Luz and the 
ex-convent of Santa Rosa (now an insane asylum) also 
are remarkable. For purposes of use and decoration a 
great deal of excellent wrought-iron work will be found 
in both churches and houses — the finest example being 
the beautiful gratings of the choir in the cathedral. 

The Plaza Mayor is a pretty garden in the centre of 
the city. The new paseo, on the western edge of the 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 373 

city, is a melancholy pleasure-gi'onncl, forsaken and for- 
lorn. The old 2^(iseo, in the northeast quarter of the city 
(see below, Suburbs) is one of the most charming places 
in Mexico. The principal market, one block west and 
two blocks north of the Plaza Mayor is exceptionally in- 
teresting. The colored-straw baskets and mats, for 
which Puebla is celebrated, with other curious Indian 
manufactures, may be bought here. The Jardin Botan- 
ico, seven blocks north and one block west of the Plaza 
Mayor, is a pretty spot, in which is the distributing reser- 
voir (caja de agua) of a department of the city water-works. 

Public Entertainment. The leading theatre of the 
city is the Guerrero, on the north side of the Plaza 
Mayor. The Teatro Principal is in the Plazuela de San 
Francisco, four blocks north and two blocks east of the 
Plaza Mayor. The theatre of the Sociedad Artistico- 
Filarmonica is in the Calle del Correo Viejo, one block 
south and half a block west of the Plaza Mavor. The 
old bull-ring is on the east side of the Paseo Nuevo, five 
blocks west of the Plaza Mayor ; the new bull-ring is 
close to the church of San Francisco. There is a tivoli 
connected with the baths of San Pablo ; another with the 
baths of Santiago, and a third with the baths of the Es- 
tanque de los Pescaditos. 

Suburbs. Avery good thing to do, the morning after 
arriving in Puebla, is to walk to the northeastern corner 
of the town, thence through the old paseo and up the 
hill beyond to the fort of Guadalupe, thence across to 
the fort of the Loreto, and thence down the causeway 
and back into the city. If sufficient energy remains 
unexpended, the traveller will do well then to mount 
the cathredral tower (fee, one real). The result of this 
expedition will be to give him a very good understand- 
ing of the topography and general features of Puebla. 



374 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Walking two blocks east from the Plaza Mayor, and 
four blocks north, the Plazuela de San Francisco is 
reached. Turning here to the right, beside the hand- 
some fountain, and passing the old bull-ring on the 
right and the chapel of Dolores on the left, the Atoyac 
is crossed on a stone bridge, and the triangular plazuela 
is reached on which fronts the church of San Francisco 
(which see) and, on the right, the monastery building, 
now a barrack, and the disused church of the Tercer 
Orden. Here, on the left, the paseo begins : a little 
park terraced above the Atoyac (a tiny stream in the dry 
season), and thickly planted with fine old trees. From 
the farther end of the paseo — which is not more than a 
quarter of a mile long — a path leads upward, passing on 
the left the curious mass of churches composing the Cal- 
vario and the little church of the Piadosas, and on the 
right the fine church of San Juan del Rio, with corru- 
gated dome of brick- work. Beyond these churches the 
ascent is steeper, but the path — along the ancient cause- 
way that is carried on an old stone bridge across a deep 
gulch in the hill-side — is not especially difficult. Up 
and down this causeway went the religious processions 
in the days when the hill was crowned not by a fort, but 
by the church of Guadalupe that has given it its name. 

This hill is famous in the annals of Mexican history, 
for here was won, in 1862, the battle of the Fifth of May. 
Strictly speaking, this victory was only a rej)ulse. The 
Mexican forces, 2,000 strong, commanded by General 
Zaragoza, were defended by earthworks and fortifications 
improvised by cutting down the walls of the church 
of Guadalupe. An additional force of 2,000 Mexicans 
occupied other points in and about the cit3^ The 
French troops, 6,000 strong, under General de Lorencez, 
attacked the fort with great vigor. They were sig- 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 375 

Dally repulsed. In itself this battle was not a very im- 
portant one ; but it marked a turning-point in the af- 
fairs of the nation, and its moral effect, in inspiring the 
Mexicans to continue their gallant defence of their coun- 
try, cannot be overestimated. A far more brilliant affair 
occurred here five years later, when, the situations being 
precisely reversed. General Porfirio Diaz took Puebla by 
storm (April 2, 1867), and made prisoners of its French 
defenders. In the interval between these battles the ex- 
isting stone fortications on the hill of Guadalupe had 
been erected. The interior of the church of Guadalupe 
now is a kitchen garden, in which the garrison — a pleas- 
ant old fellow, who will be delighted to earn a couple of 
rea/es by showing the points of interest, and giving a 
somewhat imaginative account of the battle — grows let- 
tuces. At the side of the church is the great cistern, 
within which may be seen a cross wrought in the ma- 
sonry, that in former times supplied the sanctuary with 
water. Adjoining the church is the ruined house in 
which dwelt the padre capellan. In the roofless cloister 
lie two brass 18-pounders, with the date of their foun- 
ding and founder's name, "J. & E. Hall, 1844." In the 
rear of the ruined house a stairway descends into a crypt, 
that in war-time was used as the magazine. 

From the northeast angle of the fort is to be seen one 
of the great views of the world : three snow-crowned 
volcanoes, and a fourth mountain that stops just beneath 
the snow-line, at 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
Due east, over the low hill of Amaluca (where General 
Forey's headquarters were established), is seen the crest 
of Orizaba ; to the left, the Cerro del Tecolote (a long, 
broken hill rising between two smaller ones) ; to the 
left, the height of the Malintzi ; to the left, far away, the 
Cerro del Conde ; to the left, a gradually rising line that, 



376 MEXICA]^ GUIDE. 

in the west, culminates in the peaks of Ixtaccihuatl and 
Popocatepetl. In the foreground, a little north of west, 
is the fort of the Loreto ; over beyond the city is the Cerro 
de San Juan, crowned by an hacienda with three great 
arches in its fa9ade ; and directly over this hill is seen the 
church of Los Eemedios upon the Pyramid of Cholula. 

From the northwest angle of the fort the city of 
Puebla is seen spread out like a map. The church with 
a red fa9ade is San Jose ; beyond this, on the other 
side of the city, is San Augustin ; to the left, with square, 
two-story tower and gTayish-Avhite dome, Santo Do- 
mingo ; nearly in front of this, with dark, brownish 
tower, the Concepcion • to the left, with brilliant little 
yellow dome, Santa Teresa ; to the left, with small red 
dome San Crist6bal ; to the left the towers of the Cathe- 
dral ; close to this, still to the left, the great yellow dome 
of the Carmen, and the red dome of San Angel de Analco ; 
to the left, the blue dome of the Compania, surrounded 
by trees ; to the left, the glistening white dome of the 
Soledad ; and then the great tower of San Francisco ris- 
ing beside the Atoyac at the foot of the hill ; just south 
of the city are seen the suburbs of Jonaco and Los 
Remedios. 

A half mile north of this fort, at a lower level, on the 
hill of the Loreto, is the fort of the Cinco de Mayo, that 
encloses the abandoned church of the Loreto within its 
walls. This quaint little church is the foundation of a 
pious Indian of the past century, whom the Virgin of the 
Loreto miraculously preserved from death, on this very 
spot, in the midst of a dreadful tempest. The fort, al- 
though really of recent construction, is of so antique a 
type that it might very well have been planned by that 
eminent military engineer, the late Captain Tobias 
Shandy. A few soldiers do garrison duty here, but no 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 377 

ver}^ severe discipline is maintained, and the fort may bo 
entered without a pass. For the accommodation of 
processions to and from the old church, a causeway was 
built descending to the city. This is now ruinous, and 
the fine arch at its lower extremity, on which, with other 
figm'es, is a carving of the Santa Casa de Loreto, and 
which is surmounted by a ruinous figure of San Miguel, 
is falling into decay. Passing the red-domed church 
of Santa Anita, on the left, the Atoyac is crossed on a 
stone bridge just below a pretty little fall. The tui^n to 
the right, by the cavah-y barracks, leads directly to 
the plaza and church of San Jose. 

Education. Colleges and schools are maintained by 
the State, municipality, church, and various societies. 
The Colegio del Estado, formerly the Colegio Carolina, 
in the second block east from the south side of the Plaza 
Mayor, founded in the past century under the adminis- 
tration of the Jesuits, is a well-appointed institution, pro- 
vided with cabinets of natural history, physics, chemistry, 
a library, of 12,000 volumes, and a staff of twenty-eight 
professors. In this building is the interesting State 
museum, and the State meteorological observatory. 
The school of medicine, one block south of the cathedral, 
in the street running east and west, compares favorably 
with the similar institution in the capital. In this build- 
ing is housed the public hbrary (open daily, excepting 
Sundays and feast-days, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and from 
3 to 5 P.M., in which is a collection of 26,000 volumes. 
Other notable educational institutions are : the Colegio 
Seminario, founded by Bishop Romano in 1579 ; the 
Escuela de Artes y Oficios (trade school), in the second 
block east from the northeast corner of the Plaza Mayor ; 
the Colegio de Infantes ; the Escuela Normal, and the 
Colegio Catolico del Sagrado Corazon. 



378 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Academy of the Fine Arts. — Midway in the second 
block east from the northeast corner of the Plaza 
Mayor. Open to the pubhc on Mondays and Thursdays 
from 10 A.M. to 12 M. 

Charitable Institutions. An institution in which, 
with reason, the citizens of Puebla take great pride is 
the Casa de Maternidad (Lying-in-Hospital), recently 
erected upon what was the plaza of San Agustin (one 
block south and three blocks west of the Plaza Mayor). 
This admirable charity was founded by the will of Luis 
Haro y Tamarez, who bequeathed $50,000 for its founda- 
tion and $100,000 for its endowment. The State Hos- 
pital General, founded before the year 1659 by Bishop 
Palafox y Mendoza, is a well-appointed institution, 
maintaining' more than 150 beds. There are also hos- 

O 

pitals for the insane ; a charity hospital for children, 
founded in 1877 ; a State orphan asylum, founded by 
Bishop Palafox y Mendoza early in the seventeenth 
century ; a poor-house ; an office for gratuitous vaccina- 
tion. A Junta de Beneficencia admirably supplements 
the workings of these and minor charitable institutions. 
Public Buildings. The sessions of the State Legis- 
lature are held in the old Commercial Exchange (Alhon- 
diga), on the north side, east corner, of the Plaza Mayor. 
The courts sit in the building (formerly the Colegio de 
San Pantaleon) midway in the second block south from 
the southeast corner of the Plaza Mayor. The State 
Penitentiary, west of the northern end of the Paseo 
Nuevo, is one of the best-appointed and best-managed 
institutions of its kind in Mexico. It was projected in 
1844, and recently has been completed in a very satis- 
factory manner. Incorporated in its structure is a por- 
tion of the old church of San Xavier. The city main- 
tains a jail and house of correction. 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 379 

The Cathedral. The corner-stone of the first church 
was laid in the year 1532, by Bishop Zumarraga ; and 
four years later, August 29, 1536, was laid the corner- 
stone of the first cathedral. Both of these buildings 
have disappeared ; although it is probable that a portion 
of the nave of the first church is a part of the present 
Sai}Tario. The date of the foundin2C of the existin<^' 
cathedi'al is uncertain ; but it is known that by the year 
1636 the building was well advanced. It was conse- 
crated April 18, 1649 ; but since that date material 
additions have been made to it, including the south or 
" new " tower, erected some time in the last century. It 
is built upon the south side of the Plaza Mayor, and is 
slightly elevated upon a stone platform, or terrace. 
Upon the limits of this terrace, enclosing the atrium, an 
iron railing is in course of erection (1886) that, with a 
monument within the atrium, will constitute a memorial 
to the late Pope Pius IX. This work, under the direc- 
tion of the Sociedad Catolica, was begun with solemn 
ceremonials September 1, 1878. The railing compre- 
hends statues of the Twelve Apostles ; intermediate pi- 
lasters representing the Doctors of the Church, with the 
especial heresies or heretics over which or whom they 
have notably prevailed ; crosiers, representing the Apos- 
tolic jurisdiction ; the arms of the Republic ; angels 
crowning the pillars, in reference to the angelic protec- 
tion that the city of Puebla claims in its name, and in 
fact has received. Upon the principal gate mil be basso- 
relievos representing the founding of Puebla ; the lay- 
ing of the first stone of the Cathedral ; the consecration 
of the Cathedral ; and the commission having the erec- 
tion of the monument in charge. Crowning the pillars 
of the gateway will be statues of Charity and Hope. 
Upon many of the panels of the railing are inscribed 



380 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the names of the donor, or donors, of that jDarticular sec- 
tion. 

Elevated upon its terrace, the Cathedral stands out 
boldly from the surrounding buildings. On the west 
front rise two lofty towers, and between these is the main 
entrance, surmounted by stone mouldings and basso-re- 
lievos in white marble. Over the central doorway is the 
date, 1664, when this portion of the building was finished, 
and above this is a crown from which depends the insig- 
nia of the order of the Golden Fleece. Over the door- 
way to the right is a basso relievo representing San 
Francisco receiving the Stigmata ; and over the entrance 
to the left one of Santa Rosa presenting the crown of 
flowers to the Infant Christ in the Virgin's arms, The 
building is 323 feet long by 101 feet wide ; has an in- 
terior height of 80 feet, and is surmounted by a fine 
dome. An inscription upon the " old " tower tells that 
it (the tower) cost $100,000. In this tower are eighteen 
bells, the largest of which weighs upward of nine tons 
The building is of very massive construction, with heavy 
buttresses, the whole of a dark stone resembling blue 
basalt. 

In its interior adornments this cathedral is the finest 
in Mexico ; although the effect of the lofty nave is much 
injured by the choir, surmounted by the organs and trib- 
unes, in its centre. The aisles are divided off by massive 
columns, and the floor is laid in colored marbles. The 
interior is in course of renovation (1886), under the di- 
rection of Senor Leandro Tello, a native of Cholula, and 
of Indian extraction. The sound judgment and excellent 
taste displayed in his work is another evidence of the ar- 
tistic instinct inherent in the Mexican people. The high 
altar, bcGfun in 1789 and finished in 1819, is the work of 
Manuel Tolsa, and cost more than $110,000. It is com- 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 381 

posed of a, great variety of Mexican marbles, the onyx 
peculiar to Puebla predominating. Tbe bronze figure 
of the Pui'isima, crowning the tabernacle, also is by 
Tolsa, and the other decorative figures are after his de- 
signs. Beneath the altar is the sepulchre of the bish- 
ojDS, a rich and beautiful crypt in which Puebla onyx is 
used lavishly. 

The choir, of stone, is closed toward the altar by 
beautiful iron, swinging, gratings, wrought in 1697, 
by the master Mateo de la Cruz. The two organs are 
encased in richly carved wood, and adorned with figures 
of angels blowing trumpets. The side entrances are 
through carved wood doors. The interior is a marvel of 
marquetry work, of which the culmination is the door, 
with its inlaid picture of St, Peter, that gives access to 
the shrine above the Bishop's seat, where is preserved a 
thorn fi'om the crown of Christ. All of this beautiful 
work, including the music-stand surmounted by a figure 
of San Juan Nepomuceno, is the work of the master 
Pedro Munos. On the stalls, inlaid, may be read the 
date when Munos began his work, 1719, and the date 
when he completed it, August 24, 1722. Between the 
choir and the altar, a little to the left, is the pulpit and 
sounding-board, carved from Puebla onyx. 

Outside of the aisles are the several chapels, each en- 
closed with a fine iron raihng. The Capilla de los Reyes 
was restored in 1886, but in admirable taste. The dome 
is painted by Villalpando. There is an old and faded 
picture of the Assumption, of good quality. The shrine 
contains the little fio'ure of Nuestra Senora de la Di- 
fensa, a little miracle-working lady with very charming 
attributes. 

The Capilla de San Jose contains a notably fine fig- 
ure of San Jose by the Puebla sculptor, Jose Villegas 



382 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Cora, and admirable figures of Santa Ana and San Joa- 
quin. Here is preserved a very beautiful ivory crucifix, 
sent as a present to Bishop Vazquez, by Gregory XVI. 
The tomb of this good bishop is in front of this altar, 
and some part of his virtues are told upon the marble 
slab let into the floor. 

The Capilla de los Eelicarios has a beautiful old altar 
of carved and gilded wood in which pictures are inserted. 
Here, in a silver urn, are preserved the bones of the 
heato Sebastian de Aparicio (see below, Church of San 
Francisco), together with many antique little boxes and 
urns in which relics of one sort and another are pre- 
served. Ranged in rows on each side of the chapel are 
busts of many saints. In the breast of each of these fig- 
ures, visible behind a small pane of glass, is a scrap of 
the bones of the saint himself. 

The Sacristy is in keeping with the cathedral. The 
walls are covered with paintings set in carved and 
gilded frames. The chests of drawers for the vestments 
are of a dark wood, richly carved. Two beautifully carved 
tables, covered with slabs of onyx are in the room ; and 
-svrought of onyx also is the laver against the east wall. 

The Chapter Room {sala capitular) is a vaulted and 
domed apartment hung around with portraits of fifteen 
of the Bishops of Puebla. The set is not complete here, 
the remaining portraits being in the Episcopal Palace. 
In the centre of the west wall hangs a beautiful painting 
of the Assumption, and a portrait of Gregory XVHI. 
To the right of these is a portrait of the Emperor Charles 
V. and beneath, a portrait of Fray Julian Garces, first 
Bishop of Puebla. To the left is a portrait of Leo X. 
and beneath, a portrait of the late Bishop of Puebla, Sr. 
Dr. D. Francisco P. Verea. Partly obscured by the pic- 
tures are very rich hangings of Flanders tapestry, that 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 383 

tradition declares were presented to the Cathedral by- 
Charles V. There are some fine carved chairs here, and 
a carved table with a top of onyx. In the adjacent ves- 
try is a collection of portraits of eminent canons of the 
cathedral. 

In addition to those named, the more notable pictures 
in the Cathedral are : On the north outer wall of the choir 
foiu' pictures by Ibarra — an allegorical representation of 
the Holy Sacrament ; an Assumption ; the Apparition 
of Nuestra Senora de la Merced to San Raymundo de 
Peilafort (one of the best pictures in the Cathedral) ; and 
a Santa Leocadia. On the south wall of the choir are 
two more pictures by Ibarra ; a Virgin and Child, to 
whom San Jose and San Miguel are offering the fabric 
of the Cathedral, and a Child Jesus on a globe, with the 
Virgin, surrounded by a glory of angels. On this south- 
ern side of the choir, on the altar of that saint, is a very 
good figure of San Nicolas, by Cora. In the Capilla de 
la Soledad are very impressive pictures illustrating the 
Passion. In the Capilla de los Relicarios is a lovely 
painting, very dark with age, of the Dolores of Acazingo. 
In the Capilla de San Pedro is a very fine San Francisco. 
The fourteen pictures of the Stations of the Cross are by 
Cabrera, but as they were " restored " in 1885 their value 
as examples of that artist's work has vanished. In the 
Sacristy, the Triumph of Mary (north wall), the Triumph 
of the Cross (east wall), Faith destroying Idolatry, and 
the several allegorical works hanging above these, are all 
by Echave. The Last Supper (west wall), Christ wash- 
ing the Feet of the Disciples (east wall), and the Virgin 
protecting the chapter (south wall), with the pictures 
above of the Apparition of the Virgin del Pilar and San 
Yldefonso receiving the Scapulary, are all by Ibarra. 

Adjoining the Cathedral is the parish church of the 



384 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Sagrario, a quaint and interesting building that contains 
some fine carvings by Cora ; a beautiful font of onyx in 
the baptistry, and, over the altar, a picture by Zendejas, 
of especial interest in that it was his last work and was 
painted when he was ninety-two years old. 

San Francisco. After the Cathedral, this is the 
most interesting church in Puebla. It was founded in 
1532, in a very humble way, by the good Franciscan 
brother Motolinia, who selected for it the effective site 
above the Atoyac, where now, in front of the church, is 
the beginning of the Paseo Nuevo. The existing church 
building dates from 1667, although in later times it has 
received some alterations and additions. Its tower is 
unusually high and well proportioned. The structure is 
of a dark, bluish-brown stone, with a fagade of brick or- 
namented by panels of tiles, and by carvings in stone 
and statues. The central basso-relievo represents San 
Francisco receiving the stigmata. Adjoining the church 
to the south is the convent building, now used as a mili- 
tary hospital ; and beyond the hospital, westward, are 
the now abandoned chapels of the Santa Escuela and the 
Tercer Orden. The convent property extended as far 
west as the existing bull-ring, which occupies a part of 
the ancient garden. 

The interior of the church is cruciform, without aisles ; 
and the great single nave is so fine in its proportions and 
size, and is covered b}^ so noble a vaulted roof, that not 
even the Doric absurdities introduced in later times have 
wholty spoiled it. The choir, in a gallery over the en- 
trance, is upheld by an exceptionally flat arch. Tradition 
declares that the architect who jDlanned this arch enter- 
tained grave doubts as to its stability. Therefore, when 
it was finished, he incontinently betook himself to parts 
unknown, leaving the monks to take the risks attendant 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 385 

iipou removing tlie false-work. These, prudently, took 
out the supporting beams by setting fire to them : and 
to the wonder of all the arch remained firm. And it 
continues firm now, at the end of two hundred years. 
The high altar is of relatively modern construction and 
is not especially impressive. In the tabernacle is pre- 
served the greatly venerated image of Nuestra Senora de 
los Bemedios, usually styled La Conquistadora. This 
little figui'e, about eight inches high with a tiny baby 
•ujDon its arm, carved in wood, and now worm-eaten and 
crumbhng, was presented in Coyoacan by Cortes to his 
friend the Tlascallan cacique Don Axotecatl Cocomitzin, 
in thankfulness for the aid given by this chieftain at the 
time of the Conauest. This fact is attested, and the 
identity of the image is established, by documents duly 
drawn on the 22d of August, 1582. The interior of the 
chui'ch is \iolently frescoed. The only paintings in it 
that merit any attention are those in the choir — the one 
portion of the church proper that has not been harmed 
by renovation. In the choir, too, are some finely carved 
wooden stalls, and a delightful old organ. 

Opening from the north side of the church, separated 
from it by a grating of wrought iron, is the chapel 
(formerly of the Conquistadora) of San Sebastian de 
Aparicio — a lay brother of the Franciscan order, born 
1502, died 1600, who first introduced oxen and wheeled 
carts into Mexico ; who for many years drove an ox-cart 
post over the Vera Cruz road between Jalapa and the 
capital, and who in 1542 began, and for a long while 
thereafter continued, an ox-cart post over the danger- 
ous Tierra Dentro road, through the Chichimec coun- 
try, between the City of Mexico and Zacatecas. In 
the course of his long life Fray Sebastian encountered 
many j)erils, and, being loved by the Blessed Virgin and 
17 



386 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

certain of the saints, great numbers of miracles were 
wrought in his behalf. The especially interesting feat- 
ure of his chapel is the collection of paintings illustrat- 
ing his life, in which many of these miracles are set 
forth. Strictly speaking. Fray Sebastian is not yet a real 
saint. He was made a heato by Pius VI., in the year 
1790, and now is in a fair way to be canonized at no 
distant dav. 

Two other pictorial lives of saints are hung upon the 
walls of this chapel : San Diego de Alcala and San Pas- 
cual. The chapel has not been renovated, fortunately, 
since long before it vv^as relinquished (October 14, 1794) 
by her little Ladyship, the Conquistadora. It is a well- 
proportioned cruciform structure, built before the year 
1672, with a dome over the nave and a smaller dome 
Over the choir. In the west transept is a very quaint 
picture of the apparition of Our Lady of Aranzazu, in 
which, notably in the figure of the shepherd, there is 
excellent workmanship. The bones of Fray Sebastian, 
enclosed in a silver case, formerly were enshrined in the 
beautiful old altar. They now are in the Capilla de los 
Eelicarios of the Cathedral. The image now upon the 
high altar is that of San Antonio de la Torre — a curious 
old picture of the saint holding the infant Christ upon 
his arm, brought hither when the Chapel of San Antonio 
in the base of the tower was closed. There are some 
excellent Y\^ood-carvings in this chapel, probably by Cora. 

The sacristy of tlie church contains interesting por- 
traits of the first Franciscan missionaries to Mexico, 
nsualty called the " Twelve Apostles," and a Last Supper 
and Holy Sepulchre, of fair quality. In the lavatory is 
a beautiful laver of tile-work, over which is a portrait of 
the eminent Franciscan missionary in Mexico (1683- 
1726), Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus, with the disci- 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 387 

pie who accompanied him upon his dangerous mission 
to JaUsco. There are some pictures here, also, from 
the closed convent and closed outlying churches ; and 
others, from the same sources, in the curious little burial 
chapel east of the chapel of San Sebastian Aparicio. Of 
these a few are interesting because of their subjects or 
quaint treatment. 

The chapel of the Cordon, opening from under the 
choir, has been dismantled ; and that of San Antonio 
de la Torre has been not only dismantled but walled up. 
The chapel of San Juan, north of the church and sepa- 
rate from it, has been entirely abandoned to secular uses. 
The chapel of the Tercer Estacion, just east of the chapel 
of San Juan, is disused. The chapel beyond this, on 
the opposite side of the street, San C^Tcnio, never was a 
part of the Franciscan establishment. The old burial- 
ground of the convent, in the rear of the chapel of the 
Tercer Estacion, difficult to gain access to, is both inter- 
esting and picturesque. 

La Com pan ia. This Jesuit foundation, under the in- 
vocation of the Espiritu Santo, and under the patronage 
of Don Melchor de Covarrubias, dates from April 15, 
1587. The existing church, completed in the year 1690, 
is a massive and elegant building, the exterior orna- 
mented with a rich and effective arabesque in stucco 
and surmounted by towers and a tiled dome. The two 
large towers rest on open arches, through which the side- 
walk of the street is carried ; and these archways, as 
well as the ox3en porch between the towers, may be 
closed by wrought-iron gratings. Flying buttresses, 
rarely seen in Spanish- American architecture, are sprung 
across the roof of the aisles to the walls of the nave. The 
interior effect is of space, lightness, and strength ; but 
the massive character of the work is relieved by an 



388 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

elegant richness of detail. The altars are of a compar- 
atively modern date, and the chief interest of the interior, 
after its architectural qualities, centres in its paintings 
and carvings. The fourteen pictures of the Stations of 
the Cross possess much merit ; there are finely carved 
figures of the Twelve Apostles upon the twelve corinthian 
columns which support the vaulted roof, and there is a 
very good figure of San Ignacio Loyola on the altar at 
the end of the south aisle. 

The sacristy contains some beautiful marquetry work, 
dating from 1726 ; a great picture by Joseph Carnero, 
" The Triumph of Mary ; " and a very rich altar contain- 
ing pictures by Juan de Villalobos. In a niche in the 
dome of the sacristy is a carving, life size, three quar- 
ters length, of the patron. In the ante-sacristy is a fine 
"Descent from the Cross," and a fascinating old table of 
inlaid work. 

San Cristobal. This church w^as founded, in con- 
nection with a foundhng hospital, in the early part of 
the seventeeth century. In later times (Dec. 9, 1687) 
its invocation was changed to that of the Purisima Con- 
cepcion, but it commonly is spoken of by its primitive 
name. The fa9ade is of dark stone, similar to that used 
in the cathedral, and similarly is relieved by carvings and 
by inserted basso-relievos of white marble. The interior 
effect of extraordinary richness is produced by the ceil- 
ing of intricate stucco-w^ork into which figures are 
introduced. Under the vault of the choir is a portrait 
figure of the Venerable Fray Juan Escoto. The very 
fine figure of San Cristobal, in the choir, and other carv- 
ings are by Cora. One or two of the pictures are worthy 
of attention. The pulpit is of onyx. The curiously raised 
seats at the sides of the nave are for men ; the seats in 
the nave are for women — an arrangement very unusual, 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 389 

possibly unique. In the year 188G this church was re- 
stored — with a wholesome and commendable attention 
to the strict meaning of that much abused word. 

Other Churches. Other especially notable churches 
are : Santa Clara, notable for its fine arched roof — and 
for the buttresses added shortly after it was erected to 
keep this roof from caving in, and also for possessing in its 
relicdrio thorns from the crown of Christ ; San Antonio 
(formerly known as Santa Barbara) a church much rev- 
erenced because in the monastery of which it was a part 
San FeUpe de Jesus, the Mexican proto-martyr, lived his 
by-no-means-saintly novitiate, and because it possesses 
in its relicdrio a scrap of this saint's skin ; the beautiful 
old church of Nuestra Senora de la Luz, notable even in 
Puebla for its lavish tile-work ; the curious group of 
churches composing the Calvario ; the church of San 
Jose — the saint who protects Puebla from lightning, and 
whose image venerated in this church is carved from a 
lightning-riven tree — ^in which is a very rich sacristy and 
the beautiful chapel of Jesus Nazareno ; the church of 
La Soledad, upon which vast sums of money have been 
spent and which contains a singularly fine camarin. In 
all, there are forty-five churches in Puebla ; and in the 
careful study of these any one with a taste for the cu- 
rious and quaint can spend several delightful months. 

History. Concerning the founding of Puebla an ed- 
ifying local chronicler writes:* "Passing by the tra- 
dition that in ancient times, before the blessed light of 
Christianity ever shone in these parts, the unregenerate 
heathen saw visions of angels marshalled in mighty 
hosts in the heavens above where the city now stands, let 

* Puebla Sagrada j Prof an a. Informe dado a su muj ilustre 
Ayuntamiento el Ano de 1746. Por el M. R. P. Fray Juan Villa 
Sanchez, religioso del couvento de Santo Domingo. 



390 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

us come at once to a stable groundwork of ascertained 
fact. In the year of our Lord 1529 came to Tlaxcala the 
illustrious Frav Julian Garces, the first consecrated bish- 
op of the Catholic Church whose feet, shod with Pon- 
tifical holiness, ever trod in this heathen Edom. Even 
before his coming the project had been mooted of found- 
ing somewhere in these parts a town that might be a 
resting-place in the long and weary walk from the coast 
to the City of Mexico. With this project the new Bishop 
was in hearty accord ; yet was he uncertain in his mind 
as to where best might be placed the new town. 

"As all know, it ofttimes happens that one dreams 
in the night of those things of which one thinks most by 
day. Thus it was that oaie night this venerable gentle- 
man, being retired to the humble bed upon which he 
took his scanty rest, dreamed a prophetic dream. In 
his vision, while his spirit was controlled by a superior 
power, he beheld a most beautiful plain (hermosisima 
vega) bounded by the great slope of the volcanoes west- 
ward, broken by two Uttle hills a league asunder, dotted 
by many springs, and cut by two rivers which gave abun- 
dant water and made all things fresh and green. And 
as he gazed, in j^leased amazement, at this charming 
place, lo ! he saw two angels who with line and rod 
measured bounds and distances upon the ground — as 
do those who plan the founding of great buildings and 
mark where shall be wide streets and open squares. And 
having beheld this vision, the Bishop awoke. 

" Straightway he set himself, that very hour, to search- 
ing for the site that, as his vision had shown him, was 
chosen of the angels. And as he walked, being, no doubt, 
divinely ordered in his goings, he came to the very plain 
that he had seen in his dream. Then gladly he ex- 
claimed : ' This is the site that the Lord has chosen 



PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES. 391 

through his holy angels ; and here, to His gloiy, shall 
the city be ! '" 

Fray Toribio de Benevente, better known as Motolinia, 
gives in his "Historia de los Indios de Nueva Espafia" 
a different version of the founding — an account that exalts 
the minor friars at the expense of the angels. He writes : 
" The Citj' of the Angels which is in this New Spain, in 
the Province of Tlascala, was founded with the approval 
and by the order of the Audencia Keal, being President the 
Bishop Fuenleal, at the urgent request of the minor friars 
[Franciscans]. These friars begged that there might be 
made a tow^n of Spaniards who should themselves culti- 
vate the earth in the manner and fashion of Spain, with- 
out w^ishing or having allotments of Indian slaves ; that 
thus there might be gathered together in useful employ- 
ment the many going about the country vagabond and 
idle. Therefore the city was founded on the 16th of 
April — being the day of Santo Toribio — in the year 1532. 
On this day came the inhabitants that were to be, forty 
families of Spaniards ; and the Indians of the surround- 
ing towns, a great multitude, most willingly helped the 
Christians — bringing materials for the first houses of 
straw, and singing joj^uUy as they gave their aid. And 
before the plan of the city was marked out upon the 
ground, was celebrated the first mass." 

Although styled Puebla de los Angeles — in recognition 
of its miraculous founding — for three centuries and a 
half, the official name of the city now, in memorial of 
the victory of the Fifth of May, is Puebla de Zaragoza. 
From a military stand-point Puebla is the key to the 
City of Mexico, and excepting only the capital no city in 
the republic has changed hands so frequently with the 
varying fortunes of war. The chief events in its history 
have been the battles for its possession. Only to men- 



392 . MEXICAN GUIDE. 

tion the more notable of these : It was captured by 
Tturbide, August 2, 1821 ; occupied by Scott, without 
opposition, May 25, 1847 ; successfully defended against 
the French, May 5, 1862 ; captured by the French, May 
17, 1863 ; captured from the French by General Diaz, 
AprH 2, 1867. 

VII. CHOLULA. 

Practical Information. Cholula is reached by a 
tramway from Puebla, a distance of eight miles. A 
special car can be chartered for the trip, for a party of 
sixteen or less, for $10. The regular cars (fare 2 reales) 
leave at 7 a.m., and 2.30 p.m., and leave Cholula, return- 
ing, at 9.45 A.M. and 5.15 p.m. On Sundays and feast-days 
the service is increased (consult local time-table). The 
tramway continues beyond Cholula to Atlixco. For an 
all-day expedition food should be carried from Puebla. 
Something to eat, however, may be procured at the Httle 
Fonda de la Reforma. 

Sights by the Way. The ride from Puebla, across 
the beautiful Atoyac Valley, is very pleasant. On leaving 
the station is seen : on the left, the church of Guadalupe 
and the penitentiary (formerly, in part, the church of 
San Xavier) ; on the right the ruined church of San Mi- 
guelito and the cotton-mill of the Juego de Pelote ; and, 
beyond, the yellow dome of the church of the Corazon 
de Jesus and the red dome of the church of Nuestro Se- 
iior de los Trabajos. The line leaves the city through 
the arch of the Garita de Mexico, and for a short distance 
runs parallel with the tramway leading to San Martin 
Outside the Garita, on the left, is seen the hacienda of 
San Juan, a heavy stone building with arcaded front 
crowning a little hill. The mound of Cholula, with the 



CIIOLULA. 398 

volcanoes rising bej^ond, is in sight ahead, and grows more 
impressive as it is approached. On the left, a handsome 
stone viaduct carries the highway to the City of Mexico 
across the valley. The Atoyac is crossed on a stone 
bridge, from which, to the right, is seen the hacienda and 
cotton-mill of Santo Domingo, and ahead, to the right, 
the tower of the Sanctuary of Guadalupe standing upon 
a low hill. The church of Cuautlancingo also is seen on 
the right, and on the left the church of Quamospa. The 
station at which the car stops is at the base of the 
mound. 

The Town of Choi u la. This place, a large city in 
the time of the Conquest, now is a desolate little town of 
less than 5,000 inhabitants. It is laid out with severe 
regularity, surrounding a central plaza. To the west of 
the plaza is the market-place, still called by its primitive 
name, Tianquiz (market). Of the public buildings the 
churches are the more important. In the northeast cor- 
ner of the plaza stands the old Franciscan establish- 
ment (the monastery, of course, now closed) founded 
prior to 1529. The existing church, dedicated to San 
Gabriel, was finished probably in 1604. Its most nota- 
ble feature is the hi^'h altar, a modern construction that 
cost $10,000. Adjoining the church is the cha^^el of 
the Tercer Orden and the Eoyal chapel {capilla real). 
This latter, built because the church — though very large 
— was too small to hold the vast numbers of Indians who 
came to mass, is still known as the capilla de Iqs natu- 
rales. It is a curious structure, now falling into decay, 
the great roof of which is composed of little domes, up- 
held by sixty-four large round columns. On the steps 
of the court is carved the date 1608, while on the stone 
cross is graven 1660. Probably the earlier date refers 
to the founding of the chapel, and the latter to its final 
17^ 



394 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

completion — much delayed by the fact that the first 
chapel fell down during the night succeeding the day 
of its dedication. Upon the columns of the inner court 
of the monastery are painted the portraits of twelve of 
the friars who lived here in early times, including Fray 
Miguel Navarro and Fray Juan Osorio. On the north- 
west corner of the plaza is the parish church of Sau 
Pedro Tlatiltenanco, erected (probably) early in the sev- 
enteenth century. There are upward of twenty other 
churches in the city, of which several are abandoned ; 
and also the church of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios 
on top of the Pyramid, and the chapel of Nuestra Sen- 
ora de Guadalupe, on a natural hill west of the city. 

The Pyramid of ChoJuSa.* East of the Cerro de 
la Cruz, separated from it by plantations containing 
magueys and an occasional copal tree, rises the colossal 
mound to which, since the time of Humboldt, the name 
of Pyramid of Cholula has been given. It stands out 
boldly, with the beautiful church of Nuestra Senora de 
los Remedios on its summit, almost overshadowing the 
town of Cholula beneath. In close proximity the 
mound presents the appearance of an oblong, conical 
hill resting on projecting platforms of unequal height. 
At one corner the tramway has been cut through its 
structure, and at several places excavations have been 
made ; which changes, with the growth of vegetation, 
have somewhat modified its general outlines as these ap- 

* The account here given of the mound of Cholula is in part a 
transcript of that published by Mr, A. F. Bandelier in his " Ee- 
port of an Archgeological Tour in Mexico in 1881,'' a work that no 
studious traveller in Mexico should be without. This account 
differs in some important particulars from accepted high authori- 
ties ; but it is used here because it is believed to be the highest 
authority. 



CHOLULA. 395 

peared at the time of the Conquest. This is proved by 
the eaiiiest picture of the inouud now j)i'eserved — the 
blazon of the coat of arms, of which the mound is a 
part, granted to the city of Cholula in the year 1540. 
Strictly speaking, the existing- copy of this blazon is not 
a picture. It is a sculptui-e or graving in black lava, and 
is now preserved in one of the houses at the corner of 
the Calles Real and Chalingo. It suggests a four-storied 
pyramid with a truncated top. Overgrown as the 
mound now is with verdure, and partly with trees, and 
with a fine paved road leading to its summit, it looks 
strikingly like a natural hill, upon the slopes of which 
the washings of the rain have laid bare bald bluffs, and 
into which the descending waters have cut crevices. 
However, the several terraces, irregularly disposed in the 
matter of levels and widths, still may be clearl}^ dis- 
cerned. The Hues of the base, including their irregu- 
lar windings, give the following measurements : north 
Hne, 1,000 ft. ; east hne, 1,026 ft. ; south line, 833 ft. ; 
west line, 1,000 ft. Ascending the western face of the 
mound, there is a steep ascent, with a vertical rise of 
71^ ft., to the first level, having here an average width of 
213 ft. This level is intersected obliquely by the paved 
road of Spanish construction. The second ascent, with 
a vertical rise of 66 ft., ends at the summit of the 
mound, a polygonal platform paved and surrounded by 
a fine wall. The ascent is made by a stairway (of Span- 
ish construction) of hewn stone, fourteen feet wide. A 
portal with a stone cross inside it forms the landing. 
Four cypress trees are planted upon this upper plateau, 
which forms a court around the church. The length of 
the plateau from east to west, approximate^, is 203 ft. ; 
and its length from north to south 144 ft. There are 
two other entrances to the upper court, one on the 



396 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

north, and the other on the south, to which pnved roads, 
not steps, lead. The present appearance of the summit 
is due entirely to the Spaniards. There is not a trace of 
aboriginal work upon it. The materials of which the 
mound is constructed are earth, broken limestone, little 
pebbles, and occasional particles of lava. The earth is 
in the form of adobe bricks, and also is used as binding 
material in which the bricks are embedded. The bricks 
are sun-dried, not burnt. Limestone broken into slabs 
was used for steps, and for the stairways by which the 
mound was ascended ; and pulverized carbonate of lime, 
mixed with pebbles and lava fragments, for the inter- 
vening ledges and the coating of the stairwaj^s. All of 
these materials were obtained near by. The size of the 
bricks used in the mound vary, as does their chemical 
composition : the one fact pointing to different epochs 
of construction, the other to varying sources whence 
material for construction was drawn. And from these 
facts the assumption is probable that the mound was 
built slowly, and with labor furnished from different 
localities in its vicinity. From all of which, and from 
other minor facts of a confirmatory nature, Mr. Bande- 
lier draws this general and very reasonable conclusion as 
to the purpose for which the mound was built : " The 
central hill I have designated as a former mound of wor- 
ship. Its shape and size, as well as tradition and the 
statements of eye-witnesses, agree in confirming this 
view. If we regard it, then, as such, it stands in refer- 
ence to the other parts of the structure as the centre of 
a settlement on the level ground. If we imagine the 
plateau and aprons around it covered with houses, pos- 
sibly of a large size, like those of Uxmal and Palenque, 
or on a scale intermediate between them and the com- 
munal dwellings of Pecos and many other places in New 



TLAXCALA. 397 

Mexico, we have then on the mound of Cholula, as it 
originally was, room for a large aboriginal population. 
The structure accordingl}^ presents itself as the base of an 
artificially elevated and therefore, according to Indian 
military art, fortified pueblo." As to the builders of this 
remarkable mound, Mr. Bandelier comes no nearer to a 
positive conclusion than a qualified eliminative negative 
to the effect that seemingly it certainly was not built by 
the Nahuatl or Indians found in possession at the time 
of the Conquest. The authorship of the work therefore 
may be referred either to Olmecs or Toltecs. Upon its 
top there was found by the Spaniards a temple dedicated 
to Quetzalcoatl, which, with characteristic promptitude, 
they threw down, and substituted in its place a Christian 
temple. At a later date the existing church was erected, 
a handsome building with two towers and a dome that, 
l^roportionately to the size of the building, is unusually 
large. 



VIIL TLAXGALA. 



Practical Information. This town may be visited 
on the way from Puebla to the City of Mexico — taking 
the morning train from Puebla to Santa Ana, and the 
afternoon train from Santa Ana to Apizaco, where con- 
nection is made with the up train from Vera Cruz. 
There are two hotels in the town, San Carlos and San 
Francisco. The former is the more desirable, and has 
the additional advantage of being directly across the 
street from Petra's fonda. One dollar a day is charged 
for rooms ; and Petra charges one dollar a day for the 
very fair food and excellent pulque which she provides. 
Single meals cost four reales. The tram-car passes Pe- 



398 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

trn.' sfonda, but a few steps from the plaza, and it is well 
to alight there and order breakfast before beginning 
sight-seeing. There are baths in the Hotel de San 
Francisco. 

Santa Ana to TIaxcala. A tramway extends from 
the station of Santa Ana across the valley to the town. 
Four trips are made each way daily, connecting with all 
trains ; fare 18 cents. The car passes from the station 
through the quaint little town of Santa Ana, and ten 
minutes later through the town of San Pablo Apetitlan 
— a fine wrought-iron cross on church tower — and 
thence down into the Valley of the Atoyac (called here, 
also, Asiotla) at a gallop. After crossing the river is 
seen to the right the church of San Esteban, built upon 
the foundations of the house occupied at the time of the 
Conquest by the chief Tlahuexolotzin. The trip occu- 
pies about half an hour. 

Site and Characteristics. TIaxcala, a city of 4,000 
inhabitants, capital of the little State of the same name, 
stands in a broken, hilly region, far down on the eastern 
slope of the mountains which shut in the Valley of 
Mexico. It has no business interests to keep it alive ; 
and about it is an air of picturesque decay that makes it, 
in view of its stirring and romantic past, all the more 
fascinating. It straggles about a forgotten little plaza, 
land wanders up the hill-side toward the ancient convent 
of San Francisco, and down toward the river-side. The 
houses are of adobe, for the most part of but a single 
story, and more or less out of repair. 

On the east side of the plaza is the Casa Municipal, 
two stories high. This is one of the oldest buildings in 
the town ; dating, in whole or in part, from the founding 
here of the Spanish town immediately after the Con- 
quest. The great stone figure in the entrance-way is not 



TLAXCALA. 399 

an antique. In the Council Room are copies of tlio por- 
traits of the four chiefs whose staunch adherence to the 
interests of the Spaniards made the Conquest of Mexico 
by Cortos possible. These are : Lorenzo Mazihcatzin, 
chief of Ocotetulco ; Gonzalo Tlahuexolotzin, chief of 
Tepeticpac ; Bartholome Zitlalpopoca, chief of Quia- 
huiztlan, and Vicente Xicohtencatl, chief of Tizatlan. 
The originals of these portraits were included in the 
very valuable collection of prehistoric relics, and relics 
of the early period of the Spanish domination, that 
Boturini took out of the country in 1742 — all of which 
Avas lost at sea. The portraits which hang on each side 
of the portrait of Hidalgo are of Don Mariano Macedo, 
and Sr. Dr. Miguel Guridi y Alcocer, Territorial repre- 
sentatives of Tlaxcala in the National Congress of 1825. 
The curious piece of silken embroidery represents the 
first battle between the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans. 

In the adjoining archive room are preserved : the 
grant of arms to Tlaxcala, beautifully illuminated on 
parchment, and bearing the signature of the Emperor 
Charles V.; a very interesting collection of idols un- 
earthed at various times in and near the town ; the 
standard given by Cortes to the Tlaxcalan chiefs ; the 
robes which the chiefs wore when they were baptized ; 
the GfenealoGfical tree of the chief Xicohtencatl ; the 
city's charter, a beautifully illuminated parchment book 
bound in vellum, with the portrait of the grantor, Philip 
n., and his signature, with the date : Barcelona, May 
10th, 1585. In the record-room are preserved many 
curious land-titles, and other official documents, run- 
ning back to the sixteenth century. In the outer corri- 
dor is a great treasure-chest, divided within into com- 
partments for copper, silver, and gold coin. The keys 
pertaining to the four locks were held by four officers 



400 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

of the city who collectively were responsible for the 
treasure. 

Churches. The most interesting church in the city 
is that of San Francisco, a foundation of 1521. The ap- 
proach to this is up a paved way, bordered by a double 
row of old trees, and under a triple archway that unites 
the bell-tower with the convent buildings (now used as 
a barrack). The hill-side is terraced and the outer wall 
of the atrium and the outlying bell-tower are on the brink 
of a considerable descent. The roof of the church is 
upheld by richly carved cedar beams. Over the entrance 
to the chaj^el of Guadalupe is a beautifully carved screen, 
richly gilded. In keeping with this fine wood-work is 
the beautiful old altar, into which are inserted illustra- 
tions of the life of the Virgin painted in 1669. The altar 
of Dolores was erected by the Capitan Don Diego de 
Tapia in 1661 para entiero de los ninos angeles, "for the 
burial of the angel children." On the south side of the 
church, near the entrance, is a picture of Nstra. Srat de 
Europa, and on the north side Nstra. Sra. de la Antigua, 
both very old and exceedingly queer. Near the chancel 
are three medallion pictures : a Trinity, Santo Domingo, 
and San Juan Nepomucno — the central picture especially 
good. 

The chapel of the Tercer Orden, opening from the 
church, is very rich in carved and gilded wood-work, into 
which pictures are inserted. The high altar is strikingly 
fine ; in the shrine is the Mexican Virgin del Pueblito, 
upheld by San Francisco. In this chapel is preserved 
the pulpit from which the Christian faith first was 
preached in the New "World, as is told in the inscrip- 
tion : " Aqui tubo principio el Santo Evangelio en este 
nuevo mundo." Here also is preserved the font in which 
the four Tlaxcalan chiefs were baptized in the year 1520. 



TLAXOALA. 401 

In two of the altars are remains of wood-carving in low 
relief, colored — very curious. In the sacristy of the 
church are several curious old pictures, of no especial 
merit ; the primitive vestments ; an ancient carved table ; 
and an ex voto picture presented in the far past by the 
chief Zitlalpopoca. On the hill-side, above the church, 
is the comparatively modern chapel of Nstro. Sr. del 
Veciuo, and above this a burial-place entered under a 
high stone arch. Below the church is the new bull-ring. 

The parish church, a little removed from the plaza, has 
a beautiful fayade of stucco, brick, and blue tiles. The 
interior has been spoiled by modern " improvements " 
and shocking frescos. In the baptistry, at right of en- 
trance, is a picture representing the baptism of the Tlax- 
calan chiefs. The beautiful little chapel of the Sagrario, 
in which is a very good picture of Nstra. Sra. de la Luz, 
is the redeeming feature of the church. In the sacristy 
is a- curious picture of the apparition of Nstra. Sra. de 
Ocotlan. The dome of the church was destroyed by an 
earthquake in October, 1864, as a tablet at the left of the 
entrance records. Close by the parish church is the Ca- 
pilla Real — built expressly for services for the Indians 
— now in ruins. The curious fayade remains almost un- 
injured, with the arms of Spain on the base of each 
tow^er, and a statue of Philip II. Inside the choir-arch 
there is an inscription, but no date. 

Santuario de Ocotlan. This famous shrine is upon 
a hill, a little more than a mile southeast of the Plaza. 
Tradition declares that in the first years succeeding the 
Conquest, a certain godly Indian, whose name was Juan 
Diego, was most faithful in ministering to his fellow- 
townsmen smitten by a great pestilence that then raged 
in these parts. Thinking to procure better water for the 
sick to drink, he passed from the church of San Fran- 
26 



402 MEXICAN auiDE. 

Cisco, where he had been at prayers, toward the river. 
And when he had come to the place where the holy well 
now is, where then was a grove of great pine-trees, called 
by the Indians ocotes, he heard calling him a sweet voice, 
which said : " God save thee, my son. Where goest 
thou ? " And he beheld standing there the Blessed Vir- 
gin. And to her he said : "I go to bring water to them 
who are sick." And she answered : "I will give you wa- 
ter that will not only quench the thirst of them who are 
sick, but that will cure their infirmity." And lo ! from 
beneath a great ocote there gushed forth a sweet and 
lively spring ! Then did the Blessed Virgin bid Juan 
Diego search in that spot and he would find her holy 
image. And having thus spoken, she vanished from 
him, leaving him animated by a holy and tranquil joj. 
And when, with the religious from San Francisco, he 
made search — for he was minded not to go upon this 
quest alone — he found the image where the Blessed 
Virgin had declared that it would be. Then the fathers 
placed it in the church of San Lorenzo, where it was 
venerated and wrought many miracles ; and with gladly 
given alms the shrine was built for it upon the hill, 
above the sacred spot where, at the Virgin's command, 
the water had gushed forth. And there this shrine, 
greatly beautified in modern times (that is to say in the 
seventeenth century), remains to this day. 

The way to the shrine leads past the little chapel of 
San Nicolas, and, up the glaring hill-side, a little to the 
left of the chapel erected over the holy well. The sanctu- 
ary is a curious structure, with contrasting effects of 
white and red, standing upon the crest of the hill — from 
which there is a magnificent view. In the large adjoin- 
ing building dwells the Padre Capellan ; and here are 
apartments for the dignitaries of the church, who in times 



TLAXCALA. 403 

past came hither in great numbers on the day of fes- 
tival, the anniversary of the apparition, May 3cl. The 
chancel, transepts, pulpit, and dome, are a mass of very 
rich and beautiful carving, the work of the Indian sculp- 
tor, Francisco IVIiguel — who to the execution of this 
cai'\dng, and to that which beautifies the camarin, devoted 
twenty-five years of his life. The altar is beautifully 
wrought of silver ; and the holy figure is enclosed in a 
glazed silver shrine. Upon the figure's forehead hovers, 
miraculously, a tiny star that vanishes, and again appears. 
The nave was modernized between the years 1852 and 
1854: at the charges of the Seiiora Doiia Maria Josefa 
ZabaLza, but in a manner at once rich and elegant. This 
devout lady was a person of excellent taste, for an in- 
scription, at the south side of the entrance, tells that she 
refrained from modifying the work in the chancel and 
transepts "because of its antiquity and merit" — for 
which virtue of omission may her spirit rest in peace ! 
On the north wall of the nave are portraits of the chap- 
lains who began and completed the church — Don Juan 
de Escobar and Don Francisco Fernandez de Sylva — de- 
voutly kneeling on each side of the Virgin of the Apoca- 
lypse. On the south wall is a picture of Nstra. Sra. de 
la Luz. In the ante-sacristy the story of the miraculous 
appaiition is told in pictures painted by Manuel Caro in 
1781 ; there is a very good "Last Supper" and "Pas- 
sion," by Joseph Joachim Magon, painted in 1754 ; beau- 
tiful carved benches and table ; and curious windows of 
Puebla onyx which let in a soft and mellow light. 

The camarin, in the rear of the high altar, is a won- 
derful work of art : an exquisite arabesque of most deli- 
cate stucco-work, into which are introduced figures of the 
Twelve Apostles and the Doctors of the church ; the 
whole colored and gilded. The paintings by Juan de 



404 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Villalobos — the " Virgin of Ocotlan," and a " Life of the 
Virgin " in panels — have good quahty, but are decidedly 
inferior to the delicate carving. The floor is covered 
with two thicknesses of Mexican antique tapestry, and 
the room is full of small and curious objects, in the 
study of which an hour or more may be very satisfac- 
torily passed. 

IX. Z AG ATE GAS. 

Practical Information. A tramway (fare 6|- cents) 
extends from the railway station into and through the 
city, passing the principal hotel. Luggage is carried on 
tram-cars or by cargadores, for one or two reales. The 
Hotel Zacatecano (in the building once occupied by the 
Augustinian convent) is reasonably comfortable. Rates : 
$2 a day. Eooms, $1 ; single meals, six realef?. The 
.restaurant is superintended by a Frenchman and is very 
fair. Owing to the scarcity of water, bathing is a lux- 
ury. The single bathing establishment in the city, on 
the main plaza, is a forlorn place ; yet the charge for a 
bath is four reales. Carriages are almost unknown in 
the city ; but a few are for hire in the suburb of Guada- 
lupe. 

Site and Characteristics. Zacatecas (a name vari- 
ously derived from a tribe of Indians known as Zacate- 
cas ; and from zacatlan, place where grows the grass 
called zacate), capital of the State of the same name, lies 
on the line of the Mexican Central Railway, 785 miles 
south of El Paso, and 439 miles north of the City of 
Mexico. It has a population of about 30,000 souls. It 
is crowded into a narrow ravine, and, although deep in 
this valley, is very nearly 8,000 feet above the level of 
the sea. Owing to its great altitude, its winter cHmate 



ZACATECAS. 405 

is cold and tiding. Lacking a sufficient water-supply, it 
is dirty and abounding in bad smells. The prevalent 
diseases ai-e typhus and pneumonia, each of which works 
great havoc in the poorly clothed and insufficiently fed 
population. Its situation, while highly objectionable 
from a sanitary point of view, renders it eminently pict- 
uresque. Above the ravine in which it is built the 
mountains rise on every hand ; their slopes dotted with 
massive stone buildings in which the work of silver reduc- 
tion is carried on. Dominating the city is the curious 
mountain ridge, the Bufa (buffalo), upon which stands 
the little church of Los Eemedios, founded in the year 
1728, under the jDatronage of Don Jose de Kivera Ber- 
nardez. The ascent to this chapel was a favorite peni- 
tential pilgTimage in former times, and penitents who 
had been very wicked indeed made the ascent upon 
theii' knees. The pilgrimage to the church of Guadalupe 
(noticed below) also was a means by which the evil-doers 
of Zacatecas were brought back to grace in the godly 
days antedating the Keform. Nor are these peniten- 
tial pilgrimages abandoned even now. On the hill of 
the Bufa a battle was fought, March 2, 1871, between a 
revolutionary army under the generals Trevino, Guerra, 
and Garcia de la Cadena, and the Juarez forces under 
General Sostenes Eocha — resulting in the defeat of the 
revolutionists. 

The city is one of the most important mining centres 
in the republic — though in late years the output of sil- 
ver has decreased very materially. Among its more im- 
portant mines at the present time are the Veta Grande, 
Zacatecas, and Panuco. In the district a great number 
of mines are worked, and the city, as the source of sup- 
ply for this active region, possesses a very considerable 
business importance. A great deal of coarse red pottery 



406 MEXICATSr GUIDE. 

is made in and near the city ; a visit to a pottery will 
prove very interesting. The more important features 
of the city are its mines ; its reduction works, in which 
the patio process of treating ores is carried on ; its mint 
(which may be visited by permit) ; State government 
building, churches, orphan asylum, and hospital. Per- 
mits usually can be obtained to visit the mines ; de- 
scended not by ladders but by notched sticks. But pru- 
dent people, who yet are not prudent enough to stay out 
of mines altogether, will wait until, at Guanajuato, they 
can descend into the bow^els of the earth by the com- 
paratively easy means of a stone stairway. Women- 
visitors are strongly objected to by the Zacatecas miners, 
as their entry into a mine is believed to bring bad luck. 
One of the several reduction works certainly should be 
visited. The market, in a series of terraces on the hill- 
side, is curious and worth seeing. In the outskirts of 
the city is an alameda — a well-meant attempt at a 
pleasure-ground that has not been crowned with abso- 
lute success. The city for the most part is built of a 
dark, reddish-brown stone that produces a somewhat 
sombre effect. 

Churches. The primitive parish church was erected 
in 1559. The existing building (now the cathedral) was 
begun in the year 1612, and the first service was held 
in it December 8, 1625. It was not completed, how- 
ever, until a century and a quarter later. It was dedi- 
cated, with most imposing ceremonies, August 15, 1752, 
under the advocation of Nuestra Sefiora de la Asuncion. 
It is built of brown-stone, well cut, and is ornamented 
with many carvings. The west front, above which rises 
the tower, is especially rich, being decorated with life- 
size statues of Christ and the Apostles set in niches be- 
tween columns. This front is broken by cornices into 



ZACATECAS. 407 

three stories, find is surmounted by a cross. The dome 
is tiled. The interior is decorated in white and gold. 
Before the confiscation of church property the interior 
adornments of this church were exceedingly magnificent. 
The font alone, of solid silver, was worth $100,000. 
When the See of Zacatecas was erected, January 26, 
1862, this church became the cathedral, and was conse- 
crated as such in 1864. 

Jesuit fathers came to Zacatecas in the year 1616, and 
in the year following their first church was erected. 
This having fallen into decay, the present church of San 
Jose was begun February 19, 1746, and was completed 
December 14, 1749. It was dedicated May 24, 1750. 
Standing on a levelled space upon the mountain -side, 
this large cruciform church, with its fine towers and 
tiled dome, presents a very striking appearance. The 
church contains a number of interesting pictures and 
carvings. The church of San Francisco, founded July 2, 
1567 (the existing building dates from March 15, 1649); 
the church of San Agustin, dedicated June 21, 1782, and 
the churches of Santo Domingo and the Merced also 
should be visited. 

Suburb of Guadalupe. A detached section of the 
Mexican National Railway connects Zacatecas with the 
suburb of Guadalupe. The tram-cars mn out by gravity 
at a high rate of sj)eed, and are dragged back by six 
mules harnessed three abreast. Trains of first- and sec- 
ond-class cars leave each end of the line every hour be- 
tween 6 A.M. and 8 p.m. An extra train leaves Zacatecas 
for Guadalupe at 9 p.m. The nucleus of this outlying 
town is the Colegio de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, 
founded in the year 1707 by Fray Antonio Margil de 
Jesus, from the Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Queretaro. 
The church, built in 1721, is ciniciform ; has a large 



408 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

tiled dome, and a smaller dome over the chancel, also 
tiled ; has two towers, of which the larger is sur- 
mounted by a curious tiled minaret. The interior dec- 
orations of the main altar, the fourteen minor altars, 
and the choir even yet are rich. A detached chapel, with 
a ceiling of carved arabesques colored and gilded, merits 
especial attention. It is as fine, or nearly as fine, as the 
camarin of the sanctuary of Ocotlan. 

The Orfanatorio de Guadalupe, established (in the 
building formerly used as a convent) January 13, 1875, 
by General Trinidad Garcia de la Cadena, is one of the 
most notable charitable institutions in the Republic. 
More than 1,000 orphans are maintained here, being 
educated both in letters and in trades — the product of 
the trade-school being put to immediate and profitable 
use. From the bakery and cloth factory the bread and 
clotliing required, not only in the school itself, but in the 
municipal prison are supplied, and a considerable surplus 
of woven goods remains to be sold in the general market. 
(The traveller may purchase zarapes here, but only those 
of the lower grade.) In the printing establishment the 
greater part of the municipal printing is done. In con- 
nection with the institution is a school for deaf-mutes. 

The first discovery of silver at Zacatecas was made 
September 8, 1546, by Juan de Tolosa. Less than two 
years later, January 20, 1548, the town was founded by 
Baltasar Tremino de Banuelos, Crist6bal de Onate, and 
Diego de Ibarra ; and so rapidly did it increase in im- 
portance, population, and wealth that a royal order of 
January 8, 1585, made it a city. 



AGUAS CALIENTES. 409 

X AGUAS CALIENTES. 

Practical Information. A tramway from the rail- 
way station runs direct to the main plaza, on which is 
the more desirable hotel : fare, four cents ; or, a carriage 
can be taken at the railway station : fare, four reale^ 
for one or four people with hand-luggage. Large pieces 
of luo'o*aj?e can be sent from the station to the hotel for 
one or two reales, according to size and weight. The 
Hotel de la Plaza, presided over by the Seiiorita Chavero, 
is reasonably comfortable. Rates : $2 a day for lodging 
and food. Single meals, four i^eales. Coffee and bread, 
one real. There are baths in the city, of which the 
more desirable are the Delicias, in the Tercera Obrador ; 
but the baths for which the city is famous are in the 
suburbs. Tramways (cars leave the main plaza every half- 
hour from 6 A.M. to 1 p.m. and from 3 to 8 p.m. ; fare, 
foui' cents) make these suburban baths easily accessible. 
The cost of a bath at either the Banos Grandes or Banos 
Nuevos is two reales. 

Site and Characteristics. Aguas Calientes (hot 
waters), capital of the State of the same name, is so called 
because of the numerous hot springs found hereabouts. 
The city, on the line of the Mexican Central Railway, 
860 miles south of El Paso and 364 miles north of the 
City of Mexico, lies on a fertile and abundantly watered 
plain, at an elevation of 6,100 feet above the sea. It has a 
population of about 22,000 souls. Because of its many 
gardens and flowers and trees, its surrounding vine- 
yards, meadows, and cultivated fields, and its general 
semitropical appearance, this is one of the most delight- 
ful spots in Mexico. The city is irregularly laid out ; 
contains a charming main plaza and ten minor plazas — 
among which are included the gardens of San Marcos 



410 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

and Guadalupe (the Jardin de San Marcos and the 
Tivoli de Hidalgo are reached by the narrow-gauge tram- 
way starting from the main plaza) ; the buildings in 
which are housed the offices of the State government ; 
thirteen churches ; a college of secondary instruction 
(founded in 1879) ; a hospital ; an imposing jail that ex- 
cites much local pride ; and an interesting market in 
which delicious fruit may be bought. There is a very 
fair wine made here from the grapes which are grown 
in great quantities in and around the city. 

The wonderful charm of this little city, however, is 
not in its buildings, but in its general picturesqueness. 
It is a city that every artist will love. Its exception- 
ally mild and agreeable climate, that is gently stimula- 
ting, makes it a peculiarly favorable wintering place 
for invalids — although the hotel accommodations are 
by no means in keeping with what many invalids re- 
quire. The business interests of the town are merci- 
fully small. Yet once a year the city bustles into a most 
picturesque activity with a fair that, until it comes again, 
affords a never-failing subject of conversation. Saint 
Mark is an apostle held in much esteem here, but 
less, probably, because of his inherent characteristics 
than because upon his feast-day, April 23d, the fair be- 
gins. The fair lasts until the 10th of May — and so in- 
cludes the great national festival of May Fifth. This 
period is one of prolonged, and not always entirely dec- 
orous, merrymaking. It is, in one important feature, a 
sort of expanded Thanksgiving Day — for at this time all 
the turkeys, or at least a w^orking majority of them, are 
slain and eaten. On the whole, the cacones, as tui'keys 
are called here, are held in more worshipped honor dur- 
ing this joyous season than is the Saint himself — nor is 
this inversion of matters to be wondered at, for caco7ies 



LEON. 411 

thus were made the main features of the fiesla long be- 
fore the Christian saint ever was heard of in these parts. 
The fair of San Marcos is one of the most curious and 
most characteristic sights to be seen in Mexico. Trav- 
ellers should make a point of visiting Aguas Calientes 
during its continuance ; and should get to the city two 
or three daj^s before it begins in order to secure rooms. 
Aguas Calientes was founded in the year 1520 by 
Cristobal de Oiiate, under the advocation of Nuestra 
Senora de la Asuncion. The parish church, dedicated to 
this Virgin, contains several interesting pictures. San 
Diego, founded in the year 1667 upon the site previously 
occupied by the church of the Carmen, is exceedingly 
quaint and curious — though, from the local standpoint, 
its chief curiosities are its inlaid wooden floor, a figure 
of the Purisima, and certain desiccated monks in its 
vault. In the church of San Marcos are two paintings by 
Ibarra worthy of notice : a "Saint Mark," and an "Adora- 
tion of the Kings." Other churches that may be visited 
are : San Juan de Dios (1615) ; the Merced (1665) ; San 
Jose (1686) ; El Seiior del Encino, and the Jesuit foun- 
dation of San Ignacio, better known as the Euseiianza. 



XL LEON. 



Practical information. A tramway (fare, 6 J cents) 
connects the railway station and the city— a distance of 
about a mile. This tramway passes within a few steps 
of the Hotel de Diligencias. Luggage will be conveyed 
on platform cars for one or two reales, as the weight of 
the pieces may determine ; and in the city will be carried 
from the car to the hotel for a medio or a real. A car- 
riage can be had for four reales for one or four persons. 



412 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

The Hotel de Diligencias is fairly comfortable. An an- 
nex to this establishment just across the street affords 
extra rooms should the hotel proper be full. Terms : 
$2 the day for lodging and meals. There are baths in 
the Calles Angeles and Honda. 

Site and Characteristics. Leon, a city of about 
80,000 inhabitants, in the State of Guanajuato, lies on the 
line of the Mexican Central Railway, 965 miles south of 
El Paso and 259 miles north of Mexico, at an elevation 
of 5,863 feet above the sea. It stands in the midst of a 
fertile plain, watered by the little river Turbio, and in its 
environs are many delightful gardens and an abundance 
of trees. Being a city of artisans, its houses for the 
most part are low and small ; nor does it contain many 
buildings of any sort especially interesting, As a man- 
ufacturing city its importance is great. Tanning, and 
the manufacture of leather goods — leather garments, 
shoes, and saddles ; the weaving of rebosos (the cotton 
shawl worn by all the women of the lower class) ; to- 
gether with a considerable manufacture of woollen goods, 
hats, soap, and of common ironware, including cutlery, 
constitutes its chief industries. The annual fair here 
formerly was one of the great fairs of the country. The 
city is regularly laid out ; has a central plaza and twelve 
minor plazas ; and among its more notable buildings are 
the Casa Municipal (city hall), Alhondiga (commercial ex- 
change), barracks, and jail. The main plaza has a foun- 
tain in its centre and is planted with trees. On one side 
of the plaza is the Casa Municipal ; on the other three 
sides, portales lined with shops. The market is interest- 
ing, but has no especial characteristics worthy of note. 
Just outside the city, on the road leading to Silao, is a 
j)icturesque causeway shaded by trees that is the jjaseo 
of the town. This pretty place is reached by a tram- 



LEON. 413 

way from the plfiza. On the road leading to Lagos, a 
short distance from the city, are hot and cold springs 
utilized for baths. 

Churches. The curacy of Leon was founded before 
the year 1586 — for in that year the first curate, Alonzo 
Espinoso, was slain by the Chichemec Indians. A por- 
trait of this unlucky cura was preserved until recent times 
in the sacristy of the parish church. During the ensu- 
ing two hundred years the curacy was administered by 
the Franciscans — by whom the existing parish church, 
dedicated to San Sebastian, was erected early in the 
last centmy. It was remodelled in 1834. Adjoining this 
is the small church of the Tercer Orden, also a Francis- 
can foundation. The one strikingly handsome church in 
the city (now the cathedral) is the Jesuit foundation of 
the Compania Nueva — built upon the site of the first 
church of the Compania, a small building erected in 
1744. The existing church was begun August 6, 1746, 
and was dedicated in the year 1765 under the in- 
vocation of Nuestra Senora de la Luz (Our Lady of 
Light). After the erection of the See of Leon (March, 
1863) it was consecrated a cathedral, March 16, 1866. 
It is without aisles ; disproportionately long for its 
width (220 X 45 feet) ; has a fine dome and two unusu- 
ally high towers — these last completed in 1878. Here is 
venerated the original image of Nuestra Senora de la 
Luz, presented to the city by the Jesuit Father Joso 
Maria Genovesi about the year 1740. The originality of 
this picture is attested by a certificate upon its back 
signed by four eminent Jesuits. Nuestra Seiiora de la 
Luz was made the Patroness of Leon, May 23, 1840, 
when the city government solemnly swore allegiance to 
her ; an act that was approved by Pope Pius IX., De- 
cember 20, 1851. The church of Nuestra Senora de los 



414 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Angeles, also a Jesuit foundation, contains some note- 
worthy carvings by the artist Sixto Muiioz, a native of 
Leon. The oldest church in the city, La Soledad, is be- 
lieved to be contemporaneous with the foundation of 
the town. The churches of San Juan de Dios and San 
Felipe Neri also should be seen. 

History. When Pedro Almindez de Chirinos, one of 
the captains of Cortes, made his incursion northward 
into the Chichimec country, some of his soldiers entered 
the valley where Leon now stands and gave it the name 
of the Valle de la Senora. That there was a Sjpanish 
town here as early as the year 1552 is shown by a royal 
order of Charles V., dated August 12th of that year, in 
which he refers to the Mexican town of Leon. The for- 
mal authorization for the creation of a town in this place 
was given by the Viceroy Almanza, December 12, 1575 ; 
aiid the formal foundation took place January 12, 1576. 
The royal authorization for this town, however, was not 
given in Mexico until March 22, 1712. It was made a 
city by the Legislature of Guanajuato shortly after the 
Independence. 



XII. GUANAJUATO. 

Practical information. The tramway from Marfil 
(fare, one real) lands the traveller at either of the hotels. 
Luggage is brought in on a platform car. 

Tolerably fair board and lodging can be had, together 
or separately, at the Hotel Suiza at the rate of $2 a day 
for both, or $1 a day for either one. Early breakfast 
(bread and coffee) costs one real ; mid-day breakfast 
and dinner cost four reales each. The best food, and 
rooms as good as can be obtained elsewhere, will be 



GUANAJUATO. 415 

found a.t the little hotel known simply as " Doiia Ma- 
ria's," in the Altas de la Vizcaina. Should rooms not be 
obtainable here, the traveller will do well to lodge at the 
Suiza or Bafios (the Concordia is not desirable) and come 
to Doila Maria's for his meals. Doiia Maria Carrada is 
not the picturesque personage that a lively imagination 
would create from her soft-sounding name. She is 
stout and loud-voiced, and her hotel is less good posi- 
tively than as compared with its surroundings. The 
rates at the Hotel de Baiios, Dona Maria's, and the Con- 
cordia, are identical with those at the Suiza. 

In order to escape the bad air and the very bad 
smells, worse even by night than by day, of Guanajuato, 
it is not a bad plan to spend the nights at Silao. The 
hotel at the railway station (see Silao) is tolerably good ; 
and tolerably good food can be had at the railway res- 
taurant, or at the little French restaurant near by. In 
order to avoid the very early start from Guanajuato, the 
traveller certainlv should take the afternoon train to 
Silao, and spend the night there. 

History. The name Guanajuato is a corruption of 
quanashuato — meaning, in the Tarrascan tongue, " hill of 
the frogs ; " and this name was given to the settlement be- 
cause the Tarrascan Indians found here a huge stone in 
the shape of a frog that they worshipped. The site of 
this city, with much surrounding land in what was a very 
barren place, was given by the Viceroy Don Antonio de 
Mendoza to Don Rodrigo Vazquez, one of the conquista- 
dores, in recompense for his services in helping to win 
for his royal master the rich country of New Sj^ain. Tra- 
dition tells that the discovery of silver here — believed to 
have been in the mine of La Luz, in the San Bernabe 
vein — was made accidentally by some muleteers in the 
year 154:8. Then came hither certain Spanish adventur- 



416 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ers, who built in the year 1554, where now is Marfil, a 
little fort that they called the Real cle Minas ; and in 
this fort they guarded the silver which they found. 
Three years later (1557) the first settlement is believed 
to have been made on the site of the existing city.* A 
royal order issued in 1679, by which this settlement was 
created a town, with the formidable name of the Villa j 
Real de Minas de Santa Fe de Guanajuato. By a royal 
order of December 8, 1741, the town was made a city. 
Guanajuato played an important part in the war of In- 
dependence. It was captured by Hidalgo's mob of revo- 
lutionists September 28, 1810, and several times changed 
liands as the war went on. The shot-marks still to be 
seen on the walls of the Alhondiga de Granaditas attest 
the vigorous cannonadings here in former times. The 
city is one of the three (the others being Catorce and 
Zacatecas) great mining cities of Mexico. Its present 
product of silver, greatly decreased since the time of 
the Spanish domination, is about |6, 000, 000 (Mexican 
money) a year. Ten years after the first discovery of 
silver the wonderfully rich " mother vein," veta madre, 
was opened. This is now pierced by the Valenciana, 
Tepeya, Cata, Santa Ana, and numerous other mines. 
In all, nearly two thousand claims have been staked off 
in the Guanajuato district. 

Site and CSiaracterlstics. Guanajuato, capital of 
the State of the same name, lies fifteen miles east of the 
line of the Mexican Central Railway. A branch road 
leads from Silao (986 miles south of El Paso ; 238 miles 
north of the City of Mexico) to the suburb of Marfil, a 
distance of twelve miles, whence a tramway extends into 
and through the city. 

* These early dates cannot be given precisely. The records of 
the city were burned in 1810. 



GUANAJUATO. 417 

The city is built in a deep and narrow ravine, terraced 
on each side in order to give additional standing room 
for houses. The mouth of the ravine is at Marfil, and 
its further extremity, ending against the mountain side, 
has no outlet. The Plaza de Mejia Mora has an eleva- 
tion of 6,830 feet above the level of the sea. The gen- 
eral effect of the city — narrow and irregular streets, 
broken by sharp acclivities, along which are ranged for- 
tress-like houses — is eminently mediaeval. This antique 
effect is lessened, however, by the bustling activity that 
pervades the place — and along the narrow streets are 
carried telephone and telegraph wires ! In the dry sea- 
son Guanajuato is notoriously unhealthy. In the season 
of rains, when it is washed clean, the health of the city 
is excellent. Owing to its situation, it is liable to dan- 
gerous inundations. Of the many violent floods which 
have occurred here, the worst was in the year 1760, 
when a great loss of life and property occurred. The 
latest serious inundation, also attended with a consider- 
able loss of life, was in the night of June 7, 1885. At the 
upper end of the ravine (reached easily on foot, or by 
the tramway) is the Presa de la 011a. Here the valley 
widens a little, and the stream descending from the 
mountains fills a succession of reservoirs built one be- 
low the other in terraces. Beside these reservoirs, and 
across the dams confining them, winds the road ; and 
scattered along the road are a number of handsome resi- 
dences, with gardens and many trees. In this charming 
place the band plays in afternoons and evenings of Sun- 
days and feast-days. In the city proper is the pretty 
Plaza de Mejia Mora — where a mural tablet designates 
the house in which the eminent engineer and first Mexi- 
can aeronaut, Benito Leon Acosta, was bom. 

The most impressive building, dominating the city, is 



9^ 



418 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

the great Alhondiga de Granaditas. This was erected 
by the Intendente Don Juan Antonio Eiaiio in the year 
1785, and served — as its name implies — as a commercial 
exchange. As already stated, this building was capt- 
ured by Hidalgo ; and when Hidalgo was executed in 
Chihuahua, with Allende, Aldama, and Jimenez, the 
heads of these patriots were sent to Guanajuato and ex- 
posed upon the walls of this building. The spike upon 
which Hidalgo's head was fastened still is pointed out. 
In front of the building is a bronze statue of Hidalgo. 
The Alhondiga now is used as a prison, in which the 
prisoners are taught trades. This institution may be 
visited — but in a Mexican prison are many creeping and 
hopping things, which creep and hop from the unjust 
prisoners to the just visitors with a most undesirable 
celerity. 

The State Government is housed in a building, styled 
by courtesy a palace, that is situated between the parish 
church and the jail. On the plaza, in a house that once 
was the private dwelling of the ladies Yrizares, are the 
chambers of the State Legislature and offices of the 
courts. The Mint (which may be visited with a permit) 
is a handsome building after its kind. A new and hand- 
some theatre, built of a greenish stone native to the place, 
is in course of erection. The city maintains a school of 
jurisprudence, a preparatory school, a trade school, 25 
primary schools and .25 rudimentary schools ; also, a 
fairly good public library. 

Travellers of mole-like tendencies should visit the 
mines here, for, being descended by stone stairways, 
they ai-e the most accessible mines in Mexico. A permit 
to visit a mine usually can be obtained on application to 
the administrador. (See blank form of request, p. 92.) 

Churches. The first church founded here, by the 



GUANAJUATO. 419 

Jesuits, about the year 1557, subsequently became the 
chapel of the College of the Purisima Concepcion. In it 
was venerated the famous image of Nuestra Senora de 
Guanajuato, sent by Philip 11. in the latter part of the 
sixteenth century. The present parish church, dedicated 
to San Francisco, in which this image now is housed, 
originally was the property of the Juaninos, and was 
dedicated to San Juan de Dios. It was completed in its 
primitive form in the year 1696. Upon the suppression 
of the Juaninos it passed, September 9, 1828, to the 
possession of the Franciscans. It was then remodelled. 
The beautiful old altars were torn away, and the existing 
costly and commonplace altars were erected in their 
stead. Similar unpleasant changes were made in the 
sacristy, and in the richly adorned chapel in which Nu- 
estra Senora de Guanajuato had resided for more than a 
century and a quarter ; and what had been the camarln 
of this chapel was transformed into a baptistry. But 
even after these harrowing changes the church is inter- 
esting. It has a simple fa9ade, flanked by two well-pro- 
portioned towers, in one of which is a large and sweet- 
toned bell. The interior is richly decorated in modern 
st^ie, a lavish gilding being used upon the main altar 
and six side altars. In both baptistry and sacristy are 
pictures b}^ Vallejo. 

The finest church in the city is the Compania, a Jesuit 
foundation, erected between the years 1747 and 1765, 
at a cost of $200,000, of which sum more than $80,000 
was expended in blasting out a level space to build upon. 
The single tower contains an unusually fine group of 
bells— Mexican church bells are not hung in chimes — of 
which the great bell was blessed in 1852 by Bishop Ti- 
mon, of Buffalo, then temporarily in Mexico. The facade 
is ornamented with statues of saints of the Jesuit Order, 



420 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

and emblematic figures. The principal figures over the 
central doorway are Saint Ignatius Loyola and Charit}- ; 
above the lateral doorwa^^s are figures of Faith and Hope. 
The interior is handsomely decorated, and contains three 
pictures by Ibarra — " The Triumph of l^Iary," " The In- 
fant Christ adored by Loyola and Xavier," and "The 
Adoration of Mary." Being banished from Mexico in 
1767, the Jesuits had possession of this church for less 
than two years after its completion. Subsequently, until 
the Reform, it was administered by the Oratorians of 
San Felipe Neri. Other notable churches in the city are 
San Sebastian, San Roque, and San Jose. 

Suburbs. The little town of Marfil, with its heavily 
built stone houses, is even more Moorish in its general 
effect than small tow^ns in Mexico usually are. It is 
quite worth a morning's walk. The Fort of San Miguel, 
on a height commanding the city, also should be visited. 
It is very quaint and interesting. Above and beyond 
La Presa are some curious quarries, easily reached on 
foot, whence an excellent building-stone is obtained. In 
taking out this stone great caves, with roofs supported 
by pillars, have been left. The church and causeway of 
Guadalupe, built at the charges of Don Agustin de la 
Eosa, and dedicated, November 30, 1733, also should be 
visited. An engineering work, once of great importance, 
is the highway that leads from Guanajuato through 
Marfil to the level lands below. This was begun in the 
year 1767, and was finished in the year 1852. 



QUERETARO. 421 

XIII QUERJ^TARO. 

Practical Information. A tramway leads from the 
station to the Plaza Major ; fare 6^ cents. Carnages 
can be had (for four people, with hand-luggage) from 
station to hotel for four reales. Tolerably fair food and 
lodging can be had for $1 a &ixj for either, and $2 a day 
for both, at the Hotel Ferro-carril Central ; and, not quite 
so good, at the same rates, at the Hotel de Diligencias. 
The more desirable baths are in the Calle de Locutorios. 
The dulce, a very good nougat for which Queretaro is 
famous, can be bought at either of the dulcerias in the 
Portal de Carmelitas. Opals may be bought in the 
Calle j on de Ciego, No. 3 ; Calle del Chirimoyo, No. 16 ; 
or Calle de Biombo, No. 9. Fair stones can be had for $5, 
and for ten or fifteen dollars very beautiful stones may 
be bought. Carriages may be hired for four reales the 
hour. 

Site and Characteristics. Queretaro, capital of the 
State of the same name, a city of 47,000 inhabitants, 
lies on the Hne of the Mexican Central Eailway, 1,071 
miles south of El Paso and 153 miles north of the City 
of Mexico, at an elevation of 5,900 feet above the level of 
the sea. The city is built upon a low, rocky ridge in 
the midst of a fertile agricultural country. It is laid 
out, relatively speaking, irregularly, and in addition to 
its pretty main plaza has half a dozen minor plazas and 
a charming alameda. The main plaza is adorned with a 
fountain, a statue of the Marques de la Villa del Villar 
de la Aguila, and is planted with palms, bananas and 
other semi-tropical trees. In this pretty place it was 
the habit of Maximilian to take his evening walk during 
the siege, sitting often on the stone curb of the foun- 
tain ; which fact, coming to the knowledge of the be- 



422 . MEXICAIS" GUIDE. 

siegers, the plaza was the objective point of many shells. 
Maximilian was not hit, but the statue was. Fortu- 
nately, the shot did not work serious injury. The ala- 
meda, in the suburb near the railway station, reached 
by tramway from the main plaza, is also semi-tropical in 
the character of its vegetation, and is very pretty indeed. 
The building occupied by the State Legislature contains 
(with the relics of Maximilian named below) an interest- 
ing collection of portraits of the Governors of Queretaro. 
The building has attached to it a delightful garden. 
The most important public work is the fine stone aque- 
duct. This was begun, February 15, 1726, and was fin- 
ished, October 17, 1738, at a total cost of $124,791, of 
which sum $82,987 was contributed by the Marques de 
la Villa del Villar de la Aguila. The water is drawn 
from a source in the mountains about five miles from 
the city ; is brought through a tunnel, and thence is 
carried over seventy-four arches, the highest of which is 
ninety-four feet from the ground. This great work as- 
sures to the city an ample and wholesome water-supply. 
More than a score of fountains are scattered throuq-h 
the city, of which the most notable, a handsome basin 
surmounted by a stone figure of Neptune, was set up in 
1797, facing the Plaza of San Francisco. 

As a distributing centre Queretaro possesses a con- 
siderable business importance. Leather work is done 
here on a somewhat extensive scale, and a large amount 
of sugar is made in the near-by cane country. The 
manufacture of cotton cloth has been a prominent in- 
dustry for more than two centuries. The most impor- 
tant mill in this region, and in Mexico, is the Hercules, 
built in a ravine about two miles outside of the city. 
This establishment employs about five hundred Indian 
operatives, whose wages average three reales a day. Both 



QUERETARO. 423 

steam and water power are used — the former supplied 
by an engine of 150-horse power, and the latter by an 
overshot water-wheel 46 feet in diameter. The mills are 
surrounded by massive stone walls, pierced for mus- 
ketry. Connected with the house of the proprietor are 
beautiful gardens adorned with jflowers, trees, artificial 
lakes, and statuary — of which last the more notable piece 
is the statue of Hercules that gives the name to the 
mills. 

History. The name Queretaro is derived, according 
to some authorities, from querendaro^ a corruption of the 
Tarrascan word querenda^ meaning " the place of the stony 
peak," and referring to the city's site close beside a rocky 
hill. A more probable derivation is from the Tarascau 
word queretai'o, meaning "a game of ball." At the time 
of the conquest there was here an Otomite town. In 
1531 the Otomite chief Fernando de Tapia, a most zeal- 
ous convert to Christianity, gained permission to go 
forth and christianize the members of his tribe dwelHng 
in this place. In his native town of Xilotepec, and in 
the near-by town of Tula, he recruited a little army ; 
and certain godly priests went with him to baptize into 
Christianity such of the heathen as he might convert. 
Coming to Queretaro, he arranged with its people that 
champions presented by them and presented by him 
should fight together, but only with their fists and feet, 
that blood might not be shed ; and that, should his 
champions win, then the people of the town should be- 
come Christians and renounce forever their false gods. 
Then the champions fought, and all the multitude 
shouted, and beat drums, and shot arrows into the air. 
And while the fighting continued the light of the sun 
was lessened, and floating in the air above the combatants 
plainly was seen by all the blessed Santiago, and beside 



424 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

him a great ruddy cross ! Amazed and awed by this 
prodigy, the people of Queretaro withdrew their cham- 
pions and willingly yielded themselves vanquished, and 
begged to be baptized. This wonder occurred, July 25, 
1531, and because this was the Feast of Santiago, and 
because of that saint's miraculous manifestation, the 
Christian town was called Santiago de Queretaro. Upon 
the hill where the champions had fought, the now Chris- 
tian Indians begged that there might be set up a stone 
cross in the semblance of that which had appeared to 
them from heaven. This, therefore, was done, and about 
the cross was built a chapel. In 1682 the existing 
church of the Santa Cruz was built. The most recent 
renovation of this building was in 1865. 

In 1655 Queretaro was made a city by a royal order 
given by Philip IV. As the time of the revolt against 
Spain drew near, it was prominent as a centre of the 
patriotic movement (see Historic Summary) ; in the 
wars that followed its people bore an honorable part ; 
and in later times it has taken its full share of sieges and 
assaults. The more notable events in its modern history 
are : The ratification of the treaty of peace with the 
United States in 1848 ; its defence by Maximilian against 
the Liberal forces under Escobedo in the early months 
of 1867 ; its fall, through the treachery of Colonel Lopez, 
May 19, 1867 ; the execution, June 19th following, of 
Maximilian, Mejia, and Miramon. Mr. Seward, during 
his visit to Mexico in 1869, w^as received here with great 
enthusiasm. 

The Death of IVSaximilian. The court martial that 
tried Maximilian and the generals Mejia and Miramon 
was convened in the Yturbide Theatre at 10 a.m, June 14. 
Maximilian, who was suffering from an acute attack of ill- 
ness, was not present. He was represented by counsel. 



QUERETAKO. 425 

At 10 P.M., June 15tb, the court united in a sentence of 
death. The sentence was approved at once by General 
Escobedo, who ordered the execution to take place the 
next day. A telegram from Juarez, at San Luis Potosi, 
deferred the execution until the 19th. In this interval a 
strong effort was made to save the prisoners' lives. A 
protest had been received from the Government of the 
United States against the execution of Maximilian. This 
was emphasized by the petitions of prominent Mexicans. 
The Princess Salm-Salm — always a picturesque sort of a 
personage — rode the one hundred and twenty miles across 
country and on her knees implored Juarez to spare Max- 
imilian's life. Personally, it would seem, Juarez would 
have been glad to remit the death penalty. Politically, 
his faith was firm that clemency was impossible. He re- 
fused to annul his order. 

Maximilian, pending his trial and execution, was con- 
fined — after three days in the Convent of La Cruz — in the 
Convent of the Capuchinas. This convent, a large stone 
building, now used as a barrack, is in the street that leads 
from the Theatre Yturbide to the Cerro de las Campanas. 
The chamber in which he was confined, with Mejia and 
Miramon, is a large, vaulted room, with a heavily grated 
window. Opening from it, at that time, were three win- 
dowless cells which were occupied as bedrooms. From 
this place the prisoners were conducted, early on the 
morning of June 19th, to the Cerro de las Campanas. 
About half-way up the hiU was an adohe wall, constructed 
during the siege as a breastwork, guarding the more im- 
portant fortification upon the summit — the last point to 
surrender, and where Maximilian was captured. In front 
of this wall the prisoners were stationed and the firiug 
parties were told off. Maximilian had asked as a favor 
that he might be shot in the body, so that when his body 



426 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

was sent to Austria his mother once more might look 
upon his face. This request was granted. According 
to Father Soria, his attendant confessor, his last words 
were : "I forgive all, and I pray that all may forgive me. 
And I pray that my blood, about to be shed, will flow 
for the good of Mexico. Live Mexico ! Live Lidepen- 
dence ! " Mejia andMiramon fell dead at the first volley. 
Maximilian fell wounded to insensibility. A second vol- 
ley gave him death. It is believed that Mejia, to com- 
fort him in his last hours, assured him that Carlotta had 
died in Europe. It is certain, at least, that he had the 
consolation of believing her to be dead. His body was 
placed temporarily in a rough coffin and was taken to the 
Convent of the Capuchinas. Subsequently it was em- 
balmed, and, by order of Juarez, was enclosed in a rose- 
wood coffin, beautifully carved, which, in turn, was en- 
closed in a metal case. So it was sent to Austria. This 
unfortunate man, who was so cruelly betrayed to his 
death through the cowardly treachery of Napoleon HI., 
lies buried at Miramar. 

Mementoes of Maximilian. In the building in 
which the State Legislature has its sittings are preserved : 
The table on which the death sentence was signed by the 
members of the court martial ; the coffin in which Max- 
imilian's body was brought from the place of execution ; 
his portrait ; the wooden stools on which Mejia and 
Miramon sat during their trial by court martial. Per- 
mission to visit the room in which the prisoners were 
confined in the Convent of the Capuchinas can be obtained 
from the officer in charge of the barrack into which that 
building has been transformed. The Yturbide Theatre, 
in which the court martial sat, remains unchanged. Fol- 
lowing the street that leads from the theatre past the 
Capuchiuas, one comes out, in twenty minutes or half 



QUERETARO. 427 

an hour, upon a rugged plain. Westward is seen the 
long, gray Cerro de las Campanas. The road entirely 
disappears before the plain is crossed. The hill is cov- 
ered with loose fragments of rock, and the place of the 
execution — about half-way up the ascent — cannot be 
found without a guide. This spot formerly was marked 
by three wooden crosses. The only mark now is a little 
heap of stones that bids fair also speedily to disappear. 
The place occupied by the firing parties similarly is 
marked by a heap of stones. The wall in front of which 
the prisoners were ranged has been completely washed 
away b}^ the rains. Traces of the redoubt on top of the 
hill, where Maximilian surrendered, still may be distin- 
guished. From this crest is a very beautiful view of the 
city, the gTeat plain surrounding it, and the mountains 
beyond. 

Churches. The Church of San Francisco, now the 
cathedral (the See of Queretaro was erected in 1863), 
was founded almost immediately after the Spaniards 
possessed the town. The existing church was com- 
pleted in 1698, since which time it has been repaired 
and modified. Its present handsome appearance dates 
from 1727, when it was carefully restored and enlarged 
by Fray Fernando Alonzo Gonzalez, Commissioner- 
General of the Indies. The beautiful choir was added 
at the end of the last century. In the church are pre- 
served two notable images, that of Jesus Nazareno, exe- 
cuted in 1760 by the sculptor Bartolico (so called) ; and 
that of San Diego de Alcala, executed in 1606 by the 
master Francisco Martinez. Near the church is the 
Chapel of the Lore to, containing a replica of the Santa 
Casa. The existing Church of the Oratorio of San Felipe 
Neri, was begun in 1786, under the patronage of Don 
Melchor Noriega, and was completed with the fortune 



428 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

bequeathed for this purpose by his widow in 1793. It 
contains a fine sacristy, and a very elegant high altar of 
jasper and alabaster. The Church of Santa Clara, for- 
merly a part of the now extinct Convent of Santa Clara, 
is interesting as having been founded by a rich Indian, 
the Cacique Diego de Tapia, son of the Fernando de 
Tapia by whom the primitive town was christianized. 
The act of this pious Indian was induced by a desire 
to settle in life his only daughter ; to which end he 
readily accepted the proposition of Fray Miguel Lo- 
pez to build a convent in which his daughter should be 
the first novice. The existing church was finished in 
July, 1633, Don Diego de Tapia also founded, in 1586, 
the Church and Hospital of the Purisima Concepcion — 
the existing church being finished in 1726. Other nota- 
ble churches are San Antonio, Santo Domingo, San 
Agustin, the Carmen, the Merced, Santa Teresa, and 
Santa Rosa. The Church of Santa Cruz (once attached 
to the now extinct college of the same name), built in 
1688, contains some curious images and the famous stone 
cross that was set up and worshipped by the first con- 
verts to Christianity, more than three centuries and a 
half ago. 

A short distance west of the city is the little town of 
San Francisco ; so very small a town that it is, and al- 
ways has been, called simply the pueblito. Here is 
the shrine of Nuestra Senora del Pueblito, one of the 
famous shrines of Mexico. The very holy image in this 
place is a figure two-thirds life-size, representing the 
Virgin of the Conception. It was wrought in \he year 
1632 by Fray Sebastian Gallegos, a sculptor monk in 
the convent of San Francisco in Queretaro, especially 
for the purpose of being brought to this place, and so 
turning from their persistent idolatry the Indians liv- 



VERA CRUZ. 429 

ing hereabout. The image has wept many times, has 
sweated, has assumed on occasion a most fierce expres- 
sion of countenance, and has wrought many notable mir- 
acles — all with the happiest possible effect upon the In- 
dians afore-mentioned. Tlie church in which the image 
now is housed was erected in 1766 under the jDatronage 
of Don Pedro XJrtiaga. It is exceedingly quaint and in- 
teresting, and has a very richly adorned camarin that 
contains many curious rehcs. 



XIV. VERA CRUZ. 

Practical Matters. Ships anchor, usually, a little 
south of the island of San Juan de Ulua, and are boarded 
by the health-officer and port-captain, by whom is given 
the necessary license to land. A swarm of boats sur- 
rounds the ship, and the boatmen yell landing rates and 
cry the names of the hotels. In fair weather the fixed 
price for landing passengers is four redes for a single 
person in a boat and three reales apiece in a boat-load 
of two or more. For an ordinary trunk the charge is two 
reales; for a valise, one real. In bad weather these rates 
are increased. In very bad weather a, landing cannot be 
made at all. In point of fact, the boatmen pay no atten- 
tion to the tariff, but try to get as much as possible. The 
landing must be bargained for, and the traveller who gets 
himself and his luo'g:aQ'e ashore for four or six reales will 
do very well. This should include delivery of luggage at 
the custom-house. 

The custom-house inspection (see p. 83) is made in 
the government building at the land end of the mole. 
When passed, luggage should be sent at once to the 
railway station. The carter's charge for each piece is 



430 MEXrCAN GUIDE. 

two reales. Several persons can combine in hiring a cart 
for one dollar, and, by sending a load of six or eight 
pieces, reduce the rate. The regular tariff for carriages 
is four reales an hour, or course of more than fifteen min- 
utes. The street-car fare is 6^ cents. It is best to buy 
railway tickets and check luggage in the afternoon pre- 
ceding the morning of departure (see Mexican Rail- 
way). 

At the leading hotel, the Diligencias, the rate for 
board and lodging is $2.50 a day. At the Hotel de 
Mexico, which has the advantage of facing directly upon 
the water, equally satisfactory accommodations are pro- 
vided for $2 a day. At the Vera Cmzano and Oriente 
the rate is $1.50 a day. 

Site and Characteristics. Vera Cruz is a city of 
10,000 inhabitants (with a very considerable floating pop- 
ulation), on the Gulf coast of Mexico, 263 miles (by rail) 
east of the capital. It is built in a sandy, desolate re- 
gion, and during four months of the year is very un- 
healthy. There is music, usually in the evenings, on the 
main plaza. The alameda is an outburst of tropical foli- 
age. Beyond the alameda is the negro quarter. The 
market-place is picturesque, and very good fruit is sold 
there. At the extremity of the city, near the cemetery, 
is the penal establishment of the Presidio Mihtar, a large 
fortress-like building. Here are housed the prisoners 
employed at work upon the streets. Other points of in- 
terest are the mole, the fortifications, the churches, the 
Casa Municipal (built in 1627, but modified in later 
times), the public library (in the former Franciscan con- 
vent), and the vultures (zopilotes) who are licensed scav- 
engers. The Fort of San Juan de Ulua was begun in 
1582, and was finished about the middle of the last cen- 
tury. It was occupied by the French in 1838 ; the 



VERA CKUZ. 431 

Americans in 1847 ; the French, English, and Spanish in 
18G5 ; and was the seat of the Juarez Government at the 
time of the promulgation of the Laws of the Reform. A 
pleasant expedition may be made to the fort by boat. 
The legal fare to go and return is one dollar for one or 
two persons, and four reales for each additional person. 
Another expedition, much longer, may be made to the 
Island of Sacrificios — to which the legal fare for one or 
live persons, including the return, is six dollars, and four 
reales for each additional person. 

Churches. The parish church, dedicated, June 13, 
1734, to Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, fronts upon the 
Plaza Mayor. The Church of San Francisco, a founda- 
tion of 1568 (the existing building of much later con- 
struction), was closed in 1834. The tower is the light- 
house " Benito Juarez ; " and the convent building 
contains the public' hbrary. This church was maintained 
by a sea-tribute, levied upon the shipping of the port. 
The churches of the Compania and San Agustin both 
date from 1619, having been then rebuilt after the seri- 
ous fire of that j'ear. In San Juan de Ulua is the chapel 
of Nuestra Senora de la Escalera, to which image-offerings 
are made in return for safe journeys by sea. 

History. Grijalva landed here in the year 1518 (see 
p. 41). The first landing made by Cortes, April 21, 
1519, was upon the site of the present Fort of San Juan 
de Ulua. On the ensuing day he landed where the pres- 
ent city stands ; * and because his landing was made up- 
on Good-Friday, and because the accounts were good 
of gold in that land, he gave to the town that he then 

* Altliougli tlie town has been moved no less than four times, 
the last moving — in the year 1600, in conformity with orders 
sent from Spain during the viceroyalty of the Conde de Monterey 
— brought it back to its primitive site. 



432 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

and there founded the name of the Villa rica de la Santa 
Vera Cruz — the Eich City of the Holy True Cross. This 
town has been a great seaport, and, because of its dire 
unhealthf ulness, the terror of seafaring men during the 
past three centuries. During the period preceding In- 
dependence the commerce of the port avera^ged $12,000,- 
000 annually of importations, and $18,000,000 of expor- 
tations — the odd $6,000,000 being about the annual 
average of the royal revenue derived from New Spain. 
The exports, moreover, included merchandise from China 
and the East that was brought across the country. In 
the last fifty years of the Spanish domination the export 
trade from Vera Cruz averaged upward of ^20,000,000 ; 
and when the country revived, after the revolution of 
1810-21, the exports increased to $26,000,000. The 
opening of railway communication with the United 
States already has diminished greatly the commerce of 
the port (see p. 13). 

Medellin and Alvarado. An expedition from Vera 
Cruz that should be attempted only by very leisurely 
travellers, whose liking for queer things is stronger than 
their liking for personal comfort, is to Medellin and Al- 
varado. The first of these little towns, named b}^ Cor- 
tes after his native town in Estramadura, is sixteen 
miles south of Vera Cruz, at the confluence of the rivers 
Jamapa and Atoyac. It is a favorite place of resort of 
the people of Vera Cruz, and affords excellent baths. 
On the opposite side of the river, at Paso del Toro, 
begins the tramway to Alvarado, a little fishing-town on 
the right bank of the broad river Papaluapan, 53 miles 
south of Vera Cruz. The inhabitants of this town claim 
descent from the Spaniards who fought in the battle of 
Lepanto, and the anniversary of the battle is celebrated 
here as a great feast-day. From Medellin to Alvarado 



JALAPA. 433 

the tramway rnus througli a tropical jungle, and for the 
sake of this picturesque ride, and the odd incidents sure 
to occur by the wa}^ the journey is to be made. At 
Alvarado there is a forlorn little hotel, kept by Miguel 
Vives, where the night may be passed. 



XV. JALAPA. 



Practical Information. In making the expedition 
to this dehghtful town a full day must be allowed for 
the joui'ne}^ from Vera Cruz, and another for the return, 
(See Mexican Railway.) The hotels in Jalapa — Mexi- 
cano and Veracruzano — at either of which the rate is 
$2 a day, are reasonably comfortable. A tramway ex- 
tends to Coatepec (fare, one real). A more romantic way 
of getting to this very picturesque little town is to walk 
or ride by the old road leading to it from Jalapa through 
the forest, a distance of six or seven miles. Coming out 
from this tree-covered pathway, the traveller sees one of 
the great views of the world : the valley of Coatepec, and 
over this the Cofre de Perote and Orizaba — from snow- 
peaks to hot lands at a glance. In the east a faint blue 
line shows where the sea is. 

Site and Characteristics. Jalapa is a city of 14,000 
inhabitants, in the State of Vera Cruz, at a distance of 70 
miles by tramway from Vera Cruz, at an altitude of 4,300 
feet above the level of the sea. The city is a curious, 
old-fashioned place — old-fashioned even in Mexico, where 
the fashion of everything is old — with streets as refresh- 
ingly crooked and irregular as they are picturesque and 
miraculously clean. It lies upon undulating ground, on 
the slope of the hill of Macuiltepec ; most of its streets 
28 



434 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

are very steep ; its houses are in the old, heavy Spanish 
style, with windows almost flush with the pavement, 
defended by iron bars. In the background of the city, 
over hills and ravines and lesser mountains, is seen the 
great Cofre de Perote (the white mass of porphyry, re- 
sembling a chest, whence its name of cofre, showing 
upon its dark side) ; and towering above all is the snow- 
peak of Orizaba. The city is famous throughout Mex- 
ico for the exceeding beauty of its women and of its 
situation. From these, its pleasing characteristics, arise 
the saying that Jalapa is a part of heaven let down to 
earth, and the proverb : Las Jalapenas son halagilenas — 
" bewitching, alluring are the women of Jalapa." A less 
pleasing characteristic, its frequent days of mist and 
rain — at once the cause of, and a very serious drawback 
upon the enjoyment of, its green loveliness — has given 
rise to yet another saying hereabouts. During these 
melancholy days the Jalapeiio, muffled in his zarape and 
smoking dismally, mutters : '^ Ave Maria purisima, que 
venga el sol ! " — Holy Virgin, let the sun shine ! The 
probability of sad weather therefore must be considered 
in deciding upon making the excursion. The best- 
known product of Jalapa is the " jalap " of old-fashioned 
medical practice that hereabouts abounds. 

The government palace on the Plaza Mayor is a some- 
what pretentious building that is chronically at odds 
with its surroundings. The theatre is small, but built 
in good taste. The Cartographical Institute is the centre 
of the Ordnance Survey. The completed State map of 
Puebla is a satisfactory earnest of what may be expected 
from this useful and well-managed institution. The 
cathedral (consecrated as such November 18, 1864), 
small and ill-shaped, formerly was the parish church of 
Kuestra Seiiora de la Concepcion ; founded in the six- 



JALAPA. 435 

teenth centnry, and rebuilt in 1773. A new cathedral is 
in course of erection. The Franciscan estBybli&hment, 
closed long before the passage of the Laws of the Re- 
form, was founded by Cortes, and the first church was 
finished in 1555. From the roof of this building there 
is a very fine view. San Juan de Dios also is a very 
ancient foundation. The hospital formerly attached to 
this estabhshment now is administered by the munici- 
pality. Other churches which may be visited are San 
Hipolito, a foundation of 1641 ; the Beaterio of San 
Francisco de Sales, founded about 1750 ; San Jose, 
erected in 1770, and the Calvario, founded in 1805. But 
the peculiar charm of Jalapa is not its churches nor its 
few old buildings, but the beautiful natural scenery 
amidst which it lies. In addition to the trip to Coate- 
pec, mentioned above, an expedition, on horseback, 
should be made to the town of Jilotepec, lying in the 
bottom of a deep valley, about seven miles away. 

Jalapa (meaning " place of water and sand ") was an 
Indian town at the time of the Conquest ; and because 
of its position on what, for a long while, was the main 
road between Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico it early 
became a place of importance. After the organization 
of the Republic it was for a time capital of the State of 
Vera Cruz. Between the years 1720 and 1777 a great 
annual fair was held here for the sale of the goods 
brought yearly by the fleet from Cadiz ; whence is de- 
rived the name Jalapa de la Feria, frequently applied to 
the city in documents of the last century. 



436 MEXICAN GUIDE. 



XVI. ORIZABA. 

Practical Information. A tramway extends from 
the station into the town, passing the doors of the hotels. 
Fare, Q\ cents. The two hotels — La Borda (English 
spoken) and the Diligencias — are very fair ; both clean, 
with comfortable beds and good food ; both command 
very beautiful views ; at both the rate is $2 a day, with a 
considerable reduction for terms of a week or longer. 
The starting-point of the lines of tram-cars is close to 
the hotels. One Hne extends to the railway station ; 
another (cars marked Dolores) traverses the town ; and 
a third (cars every hour — running time, twenty-five 
minutes) extends to^^the pretty suburb of the Yngenio, 
and thence, a little beyond, to the Nogales station on 
the Mexican Eailway. Travellers with only hand-bag- 
gage can take the car to the Yngenio an hour before the 
train from Vera Cruz is due ; alight in front of the 
church at Yngenio ; see this, the mill, and the pretty 
lake, and then, at the Nogales station, take the train for 
the City of Mexico. On the line of this tramway, just 
outside the gaj^ita, is the pretty Angostura garden, 
where strawberries and flowers may be bought. Another 
pleasant expedition, an hour's drive, is to the Cascade in 
the Rincon Grande. Three hours beyond the Rincon 
Grande is the finer cascade of Tuxpango. Other falls in 
the vicinity of the town are near the Barrio Nuevo, and 
at Santa Ana. Orchids abound in this region. In the 
course of these suburban expeditions, victims of the 
orchid habit can collect many rare varieties. 

Site and Characteristics. Orizaba is a town of 
15,000 inhabitants, in the State of Vera Cruz, on the 
line of the Mexican Railway, 82 miles from Vera Cruz, 



ORIZABA. 437 

181 miles from the City of Mexico, at an elevation of 4,000 
feet above the level of the sea. The town lies in a little 
valley siuTOunded by very fine mountains. The peak of 
Orizaba, however, cannot be seen, save a tiny strip of 
glittering w^hite over the crest of the Cerro de la Esca- 
mela, and even this only from the upper rooms of the 
Borda. The other surrounding hills are : the Borrego, 
wdiere a cross marks the burial-place of the French 
soldiers killed in the affair of June 13-14, 1860 ; the 
Eanchito de Cristo ; Jalapilla ; San Juan del Eio ; the 
Biucon Grande ; and La Perla. The town is composed, 
for the most part, of low houses with red-tiled roofs ; it 
is crossed by two small streams, and by the little river 
Orizaba (through a rocky ravine filled with tropical 
plants), all of which unite near by in the Eiver Blanco. 
There is a pretty little alameda, adorned with a monu- 
ment to the patriot Ignacio de la Llave, a notable bene- 
factor to this town, erected in 1877 ; a trim little plaza, 
upon which faces the handsome theatre ; a market, 
made up of many little sheds (the market-day is Thurs- 
day), where excellent fruit may be bought. Just north 
of the alameda is the Escuela Modela, occupying the 
buildings used for the exposition in 1881. 

Churches. Santa Teresa, formerly El Calvario, is 
the oldest foundation in the town. Primitively this was 
the parish church, and the first building was a little 
house thatched with strav/. The Calvario (adjoining the 
church pro]oer, and no longer in use) was erected in 
1564, being the first church of stone built in this town. 
Here Bishop Palafox y Mendoza, in 1642, placed the 
Santa Cristo that still (being now in the adjacent new 
church, erected in 1833) is greatly venerated. The 
present parish church, dedicated to San Miguel, is a 
large and handsome building, standing in a great stone- 



438 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

paved atrium, and presenting an admirable architectural 
effect in mass. The interior, spoiled in part by unduly 
large pillars, is heavy ; all the beautiful old altars vs^ere 
taken away in 1834 ; the walls' are covered with crude, 
cold color, applied in tasteless design. From the north- 
ern side projects the large chapel of the Corazon de 
Jesus, and from the southern the chapel of the Rosario. 
The organ was built b}'' a lay brother of San Felipo Neri, 
Miguel Pizarro. In the sacristy is a magnificent chest 
of drawers, of ebony inlaid with ivory, in which the 
priestly vestments are stored. The church was begun 
in the last decade of the seventeenth century, and was 
finished about the year 1720. The tower was completed 
in 1732. It contains a clock, of French manufacture, 
erected in 1867. 

San Jose de Gracia (close by the hotels) is a large and 
imposing group of buildings comprehending the church 
proper, the chapel of the Tercer Orden, and the convent. 
This is a Fernandino foundation of 1793. The plans — 
not strictly followed — were prepared by Tolsa ; work was 
begun in 1802, and about 1810 the church was finished. 
The general effect of the interior is good architecturally ; 
but, being so recent an erection, there is an entire ab- 
sence of that quaintness and mellowness of age that in 
most Mexican churches is the essential charm. The 
frescos are by the elder Barranca, as are nearly all the 
other pictures. 

San Juan de Dios is a foundation of the early part of 
the seventeenth century. At this time certain charitable 
townsmen of Orizaba, Don Pedro Mexia, Don Sebastian 
Maldonado, and Don Juan Ramon, feeling sad at heart 
because so many travellers coming from the fever-stricken 
coast fell ill in Orizaba, and died there because there was 
none whose business it was to care for them, found in 



ORIZABA. 439 

their souls the good desire to erect a hospital within 
■which such sick wayfarers might be received. And this, 
with the approval of the Viceroy, given July 18, 1618, 
they did ; and the hospital, and with it a little church, 
was completed in the ensuing year and placed in the 
charge of the Hospitaller Brothers of San Juan de Dios. 
In 1696 an earthquake so injured the primitive church 
that a new chui'ch, that now existing, was built. In the 
exterior north w^all of the transept is the date when the 
body of the church was completed, January 6, 1714. On 
the tower is the date November 12, 1738, when the 
tower was begun. The whole was finished, and was 
dedicated under the invocation of the Immaculate Con- 
ception, in the year 1763. This church, after having 
been closed for a number of years, was reopened in 1873. 
The primitive hospital is a mass of ruins ; but the char- 
ity, under the dii'ection of the Ayuntamiento, sur\dves. 
Other churches which may be visited are the Carmen, 
Santa Gertrudis, San Miguel, and Guadalupe. The un- 
finished dome, seen from the railway station, pertains to 
an abortive chapel in the Campo Santo. 

In all the churches are pictures by Gabriel Barranco, 
an artist born in Orizaba, and whose hfe has been passed 
in his native town. His work, naturally, has many 
limitations ; but it possesses positive merits, when at its 
best, of color and drawing, and is most interesting in 
the character, as well as in the quality, of its expression. 
Its least successful feature is its composition. The 
groups are not w^ell held together, and the lack of em- 
phasis upon a central figure tends to weaken the whole. 
An illustration of both his good and bad qualities is his 
*' Christ Tormented," in the church of San Jose de Gracia, 
at the end of the west aisle. In the sacristy of this 
church his " House of Nazareth," in which there is much 



440 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

tenderness, shows — in such touches as the Mexican mat 
upon which the Child is seated, the dress of San Jose 
and the Virgin, the tea-pot on a shelf against the wall, 
the tools on the carpenter's bench — a genuine simphcity 
of feeling that certainly tends to anachronism, but that 
certainly is yery lovable. This man's work is not an 
echo, but a continued embodiment of the art feeling of 
Italy and Germany (even more than of Spain) of three 
centuries ago ; and under conditions of isolation iden- 
tical with those under which lived and worked a very 
large number of the minor artists of that time. Seiior 
Barranco, now a very old man, has been compelled by 
blindness to abandon his brushes ; but his son, Gabriel 
Barranco the younger, is an artist of much the same 
quality as his father. This young man very well may 
live to continue into the twentieth century a class of art 
work that distinctly belongs to the sixteenth. 

History. Orizaba is a Ghichimec foundation that 
antedates the Conquest. Primitively it was known as 
Ahauializapan (meaning "joy in the water ") ; a very 
trying name, that has passed through these modifications : 
Aulicava, Ullizava, Olizava, Orizaba. Here Cortes left a 
small force on his march inland that, but for the lucky 
arrival of Sandoval, would have been massacred after 
his departure. Being above the fever level, this always 
has been a favorite resting-place on the journey up from 
the coast. It has been also a place of retreat during the 
summer for the people of Vera Cruz, as well as a pleasure 
resort in the winter for the people of the plateau. It 
was a favorite resort of Maximilian's. Although it must 
have been a place of some importance as early as the 
year 1553 (a document of that date mentioning the ex- 
istence of a flour-mill here, and so implying the pres- 
ence of a considerable Spanish population), it did not 



PACIIUCA AND REAL DEL MOISTTE. 441 

receive its charter a,s a town until the year 1774. The 
town several times was besieged during the War of In- 
dependence. In the night of June 13-14, 18G2, a little 
force of one hundred French Zouaves surprised and 
routed, on the Cerro del Borego, a Mexican force of be- 
tween four and five thousand men. 



XVIL PACHUCA AND REAL DEL 3fONTE. 

Practical Matters. A tramway extends from Irolo 
to Pachuca, a distance of 37 miles (first class fare, $1.20). 
Gargadores will carry luggage from the railway station to 
the near-by Hotel de Diligencias for a real or two. The 
hotel is reasonably comfortable. Eate, $2 a day. Apart 
fi'om the interest attaching to the mines hereabout, 
the scenery of this region is very fine — notably at Regla, 
where is a fine canon of basaltic formation. Takim;' 
Pachuca as a base, several days can be very pleasantly 
spent in making expeditions into the picturesque and 
interesting surrounding country. 

Site and Characteristics. Pachuca, capital of the 
State of Hidalgo, is a mining city of about 14,000 inhab- 
itants, 85 miles distant by rail from the City of Mexico, 
at an elevation of 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
The city lies in a basin, and the surrounding mountains 
everywhere are scarred with the openings of mines. On 
the hill to the north, the Cerro de la Magdalena, were the 
famous workings of the Rosario, Candado, and Xacal, all 
on the Analcos vein. The more important mine now in 
bonanza is the Santa Gertrudis. In all, about eighty 
mines are clustered together here. In the district, tlie 
workings are more than two hundred and sixty. The 
city is very irregularly built ; the streets narrow^, crooked, 



442 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

and steep. The more important buildings are the Caja, a 
handsome structure surmounted by towers, founded in 
1670 by Don Sebastian de Toledo, Marques de Mancera, 
as a treasury for the royal tribute received from the 
mines, and as the place of sale of quicksilver (a govern- 
ment monopoly) ; the Casa de Diligencias, fronting upon 
the Plaza of the Diligencias ; the Casa Colorada, built in 
the eighteenth century by the philanthropic Conde de 
Eegia for a public granary. The aqueduct also was built 
by the Conde de Regla, but the source of supply is de- 
fective, and Pachuca suffers greatly for want of water — 
though less since the spring of the Pefia Redonda was 
made available in 1883. One of the several amalga- 
mating works should be visited. That of the Loreto, 
spanning the water-course that flows through the city, is 
most accessible and is the largest in this region. The 
Church of San Francisco, with its adjacent Chapel of the 
Tercer Orden, is a foundation of 1596. The existing 
church, erected under the patronage of Doiia Beatriz de 
Miranda, was completed in the jesiv 1660. In the chapel 
of the Tercer Orden lies buried Fray Crist6bal de la 
Cruz. The buildings formerly used as a missionary col- 
lege now are occupied by a school of mining engineerings 
for the practical training of graduates of the Miheria in 
the City of Mexico. The Feast of San Francisco, lasting 
from September 30th to October 8th, is celebrated with 
much enthusiasm, manifested in bull-fights, cock-fights, 
and general drunkenness. Sunday, the market-day, is 
celebrated in a very similar fashion. 

History. Shortly after the Conquest a shepherd dis- 
covered the rich silver workings here, and a miniug 
camp at once sprang up that, about 1534, was made a 
town. Here was invented, in 1557, by Bartolome de 
Medina, the so-called " patio process " for the amalga- 



PACIIUCA AND REAL DEL MONTE. 443 

raation of silver ore. Among the more famous of the 
niicieut mines was the Trinidad, whence was extracted 
$40,000,000 in silver in ten years. The period of the 
revolt against Spain, and of the subsequent civil wars, 
reduced the fortunes of the city to a very low depth. 
It was seized and sacked by revolutionists, April 23, 
1812, when $300,000 worth of silver was taken from the 
Caja, and the records of the city were destroyed. Until 
1850, its fortunes continued to decline, and its j)opula- 
tion greatly diminished. In this year the Eosario Mine 
came into bonanza — at once reviving the city's dormant 
prosj)erity. 

Real del Monte. This famous mininQ- town is 
reached over the fine road, now deteriorated, built to it 
from Pachuca in the flush days of the English company. 
The town Hes in a mountain-enclosed amphitheatre ; is 
brightened by gardens, and by cultivated patches on the 
surrounding slopes ; is a perfect labyrinth of narrow 
streets and narrower alleys, and is about as picturesque 
as a town well can be. The notable buildings are the 
gTeat Maestranza, occupying an entire block, in which 
are the general offices, store-rooms, machine-shops, etc., 
of the mining company ; the similar edifice, though 
smaller, pertaining to the Cayetano mine ; the Presidio, 
in which were housed the convicts emjoloyed as laborers ; 
the Casa Grande, in which dwells the superintendent ; 
the parish church, and the church of the Vera Cruz. 
The general effect of the town — peaked-roof houses with 
chimneys, surrounding the works of the mine — is much 
more English than Mexican. The chimneys are very 
necessary, for the elevation (9,100 feet) produces a chilly, 
damp atmosphere, much rain, and occasional snow. 
In the Cerro de Judio is the English burying-ground, 
approached by a pretty causeway from the Dolores Mine. 



444 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

In 1739 the Biscayan, Pedro Jose Eomero de Terre- 
ros, had acquired a capital of 160,000 in mining in Que- 
retaro, and with this fortune set out for his home in 
Spain. On his way he passed through the Pachuca dis- 
trict, and was so impressed with the promise of the 
Eeal del Monte region that he remained there and set 
about opening the mine. He spent his $60,000, and a 
considerable sum borrowed at a very high rate of inter- 
est, before he liad any return. Then the mine came into 
bonanza, and between the years 1762 and 1781 jielded 
$12,500,000. Up to the year 1819 the mines had 
jdelded upwards of $30,000,000. In this year they were 
abandoned, owing to the disturbed political condition of 
the country ; and a year or two later passed into the pos- 
session of a limited stock company organized in England 
under the name of the Real del Monte Mining Company. 
The corporation took charge of the mines in July, 1824 ; 
and although the property was in a ruinous condition the 
company's shares, the par value for which was £100, 
sold up to £16,000 in the course of the ensuing year. 
Enormous sums were spent in putting the property in 
order — no less than 1,500 tons of machinery was packed 
up from the coast — and the entire management was 
marked by a reckless extravagance. The net result of 
the investment — when, in October, 1848, the company 
went into liquidation — was a deficit of $4,000,000. In 
all, silver to the value of $16,000,000 had been taken out ; 
bat in carrying on the work $20,000,000 had been spent. 
A Mexican company was organized in 1850 that ac- 
quired the property and mining plant at an almost 
nominal sum, and that has earned very satisfactory re- 
turns. 



LOS KEMEDIOS. 445 



XVIIL LOS REMEDI08. 

Practical Matters. This is a trj'ing expedition, in- 
volving an eai'ly start and a walk of more than three 
miles in the sun. The morning train is taken on the 
Mexican National Kail way (coffee and bread can be pro- 
cured at the Colonia Station) to San Bartolome Naucalpan, 
fifteen minutes out. From the station walk north through 
the httle town — stopping at ihefonda, on the left hand 
side, to order breakfast to be ready against the return — • 
to a railway track ; follow from this point the path lead- 
ing up the hill- side, to the left. As soon as the town is 
cleared, the sanctuary is in sight on the hill beyond. 
The view in the course of this walk is wonderfuUj'- fine. 
On the return, a very fair Mexican breakfast will be found 
ready at Wi^fonda, costing four reales, with a good, very 
light, beer at one real the bottle. The spare time before 
the arrival of the train for Mexico can be employed in 
visiting the parish church. There is one good picture 
in this church — a dead Christ, with the Virgin, San Jose, 
Santa Ana, and San Joaquin — in the south transept, re- 
markable for the free use of gold in connection with the 
color. 

The Sanctuary. The high mass of buildings seen 
as the sanctuary is approached has much more the ap- 
pearance of a fortress than of a shrine. The large build- 
ing adjoining the church was erected at the charges of 
the Ayuntamiento of the City of Mexico for the housing 
of the resident clergy ; and for the accommodation of 
the oTeat dignitaries of the Church and State on the occa- 
sion of the annual festival, September 1st ; and on the oc- 
casions when these functionaries came to bring the holy 



446 MEXICAT^ GUIDE. 

image in state to the city, that its aid might be invoked. 
The great cloister that surrounded the inner wall of the 
atrium was erected to shelter the Indian pilgrims who 
slept in this open place. Almost all of this cloister now 
is in ruins, and all the buildings are falling into decay. 
The shabby facade of the church is simple and, there 
being but one small tower, rather lop-sided. Above the 
doorway is a sad little figure of the Virgin, bereft by 
time and weather of the bright colors that once made it 
a very gay little Virgin indeed. The interior is very bare, 
the pictures, illustrating the history of the Virgin, having 
been long since removed. The altar dates from about 
fifty years ago, and is not nearly so good as the altar that 
it replaced. The silver railings which enclosed the chan- 
cel took wings, together with the great silver maguey, 
the jewels, and the other substantial riches of the shrine, 
upon the adoption of the Laws of the Reform. In front of 
the chancel a small slab of Puebla onyx inserted in the 
floor bears the inscription : " This is the true spot where 
was found the most holy Virgin, beneath a maguey, by the 
Chief Don Juan de Aguila Tobar in the year 1540 ; [being 
the spot] where she said to him, in the times of her ap- 
pearance to him, that he should search for her." This 
slab, in 1796, replaced a pillar (now in the inner cloister) 
that had upon its top a little maguey in which was a carv- 
ing of the image. Under the main altar the Cacique Don 
Juan is buried. 

The pictures in the sacristy are neither well painted 
nor interesting. In the ante-sacristy are the illustrations 
of the life of the Virgin that were inserted into the an- 
cient altar. In the ante-camarin are good paintings by 
Francisco de los Angeles (1699) of the Twelve Apostles. 
Here also is the veritable chest, according to tradition, 
in which the Indian chief sought to make the image a 



LOS REMEDIOS. 447 

prisoner, and from which it escaped and came back to this 
hill. The camarin has a roof of very elegant stucco work, 
but not to be compai'ed, in its cold whiteness, with the 
splendor of the camarin at Ocotlan. It is here, to 
favored visitors, that the holy image is shown — a little 
wooden figure, about eight inches long, coarsely carved, 
lacking one eye and a part of the nose, and very dark 
brown with age. In its arms is the tiny figure of the 
Child. A few pearls, small ones, still are left for the Vir- 
gin's adornment ; but her great treasures, including her 
rich vestments, have been carried away. Even the lamps 
upon the altar, once silver, now are tin ! In the shrine 
with the image is preserved, in a silken case, the gourd — 
many times broken, and held together by bands of iron 
and of brass — in which the good Indian offered the holy 
image food to content her with his house and keep her 
with him. 

The Water-works. It is the especial function of this 
Virgin to bring rain ; but in the matter of supplying 
her own chosen abode with water she has manifested a 
reprehensible carelessness. For the purpose of bring- 
ing water to the sanctuary, the great aqueduct, the 
tank upon the hill-side above, and the two water-towers, 
were built at the charges of Don Alonzo Tello de Guz- 
man, who began the work in the year 1620 and who, a 
few years later, completed it, together with the hand- 
some stone fountain near the entrance to the atrium, at 
a cost of 115,000 — a very small sum, even with Indian 
slave labor, for so great a work. But Don Alonzo's 
magnificent project was without result. According to 
Don Ignacio Carrillo y Perez, the official historian of 
the shrine, the aqueduct was a failure, "because the 
levels were not properly estimated, or because the con- 
duit was wrongly laid, or because the most Holy Virgin 



448 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

wished tliat it should fail — to the end that those who 
visited her sanctuary might gain some merit by the 
trouble that they must take to satisfy their thirst." Yet 
this same historian states, upon the authority of " a most 
veracious person, a resident of this sanctuary," that the 
aqueduct was repaired, and that water did enter the 
fountain during the years 1723-24. And some support 
is given to his assertion by the fact (to which he does 
not refer) that upon the little water-tower, near the foun- 
tain, is a stone bearing a long inscription— all of which 
has become illegible, save the date, " April, 1724." 

Legend and History. After leading a romantic and 
somewhat adventurous life in Spain, this holj^ image was 
brought to Mexico by Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte, 
one of the soldiers of Cortes. During the first and 
peaceful occupation of the city of Tenochtitlan, now 
Mexico, it was permitted to be set up in a shrine upon 
the great Teocalli among the Aztec gods. It was carried 
thence on the night of the retreat from the city, the 
Noche Triste, by Villafuerte ; when he, and all that was 
left of the army of Cortes, sought shelter in the temple 
of Otoncapulco, that stood upon the hill of Totoltepec, 
where now is the Holy Virgin's shrine. And by the tem- 
ple, being too sorely wounded to carry it farther, he hid 
the image beneath a maguej'-, and left it there. 

In the year 1540 a certain Indian chief, a Christian, 
Don Juan de Aguila Tobar— who also is known by his 
heathen name of Cequauhtzin — while hunting upon this 
same hill, beheld a vision of the Holy Virgin, who told 
him to search beneath a maguey for her image. And 
this happened not once but several times, and then the 
Indian found the image and took it to his home. But 
the image returned again to this hill. Then did he 
bring it again to his house, and in a dish made of a gourd 



LOS REMEDIOS. 449 

set before it to eat tempting things. But the image re- 
sisted the food and returned to this hill. Then did he 
enclose the image in a great box, fastened with strong 
locks ; and to make the matter still more sure he slept 
upon the box's lid. But in the morning the image was 
gone, and he found it once more upon the hill of To- 
toltepec, beneath the maguey. Then he told to the 
Fathers of San Gabriel, in Tacuba, in which town ho 
lived, of these strange things which had befallen him ; 
and these perceived that a miracle had been performed, 
and a sign given showing that on the hill of her choice 
the Vii'gin should have built a temple in her honor. 
And so it was done — and the more because the Virgin 
showed, by many other notable miracles, that she wished 
it so to be. 

The existing chiu-ch, replacing a ruinous chapel, was 
erected at the charges of Don Garcia Albomos, Obrero 
Mayor of the City of Mexico. It was begiin in May, 1574, 
and was finished in August, 1575. The vaulted roof and 
dome were added early in the seventeenth century, the 
records showing that, after the completion of these im- 
provements, the church again was dedicated, May 25, 
1629. The camarin was added, between the years 1692- 
95, at the charges of Dr. Francisco Fernandez Marmo- 
lejo, Gidor of the Eeal Audencia, and his wife Dorla 
Francisca de Sosa ; a master workman in stucco being 
brought from Puebla expressly that he might do this 
work. 

Nuestra Sefiora de los Remedios was the Patroness of 
the City of Mexico, and was especially invoked in sea- 
sons of di^ought to bring rain ; but was invoked also 
when pestilence or other calamity fell upon the city. 
When her services were required she was brought into 
the city in most solemn state, even the Ai'chbishop and 
29 



450 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

the Viceroy following humbly in her train; and in 
the Cathedral, with splendid and impressive ceremonies, 
her aid was besought. With the Virgin of Guadalupe 
this Virgin of Succor divided the highest religious hon- 
ors of the land. Her shrine was magnificent ; the value 
of her jewels and vestments was more than a million of 
dollars. Her downfall was the result of her entangle- 
ment in politics. After the battle of Las Cruces, Octo- 
ber 30, 1810, when the Royalist forces were driven back 
to Mexico by Hidalgo, Our Lady of Succor was brought 
into the city with solemn ceremonies ; her aid was in- 
voked against the rebels, and she formally was made 
Generala of the armies of the king. She thus became 
the representative of the Spanish faction, as the Virgin 
of Guadalupe was representative of the Mexican. The 
feeling among the Mexicans grew so bitter against her 
that, when Independence was secured, the order actually 
was issued — though it was not executed — for her banish- 
ment from the country ! Although the ill-feeling against 
her has lessened. La Gachupina, as she was derisively 
called, never has recovered her lost ground. The more 
notable festivals now celebrated in the church of Nues- 
tra Seiiora de las Remedios are the feast of her day, 
September 1st, and one peculiar to the Indians on the 
fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. As this latter is 
mentioned by Vetancurt, it certainly has been observed 
for at least two hundred years. 



XIX. SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE. 

Practical Matters. The railway station is a little 
more than a mile from the town. Very ancient carriages 
are on hand to meet arriving trains, and will carry four 



SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE. 451 

passengers or less to the hotel for four reales, and trunks 
for two realea each. These carriages are available also 
for expeditions to Atotonilco, to which the rate should 
not exceed three, or at most, four dollars. The Hotel 
Allende, on the little Plaza Mayor, is a handsome build- 
ing, dating from the early part of the last century. The 
rate here, hitherto, for board and lodging, has been $1.50 
a day. This season the rate probably will be raised to 
two dollars a day. The hotel is reasonably clean, and 
the food, strictly Mexican, is by no means bad. The 
beds are very hard. A good Mexican-brewed beer is 
sold for one real the bottle. The baths, mentioned be- 
low, are among the most delightful in Mexico. 

Site and Characteristics. San Miguel de Allende 
is a city of 15,000 inhabitants in the State of Guanajuato, 
on the line of the Mexican National Bailway, 254 miles 
from the City of Mexico (the present northern terminus 
of the southern division), at an elevation of 6,000 feet 
above the level of the sea. The city is built upon a de- 
clivity above the valley of the Laja, and beneath the 
mountain knovsm as the Cerro de Montezuma — concern- 
ing the enchantments of which mountain, until the great 
cross was put upon it, any well-informed citizen will 
be able, and glad, to convey much valuable information. 
The little plaza is terraced on its down-hill side, produc- 
ing, in conjunction with the great Gothic church that 
fronts upon it, and the arcades at its right, a very pict- 
uresque effect. 

In the southern suburb of the tovni are many beau- 
tiful gardens, made fertile by the water that :&ows from 
a great spring, the Chorro, on the hill-side above. The 
hill-side is laid out in terraced gardens, through which 
■wind stone-paved paths and stairways ; and immediately 
about the spring are conveniently-arranged baths — 



452 MEXICAIS' auiDE. 

slightly warm in winter, and in summer cool. From a 
mirador in front of the batli-liouses a fine view of the 
town and of the valley and distant mountains beyond 
may be had. 

Churches. The parish church, dedicated to San 
Miguel, erected about the middle of the past century, 
now is in course of transformation into a Gothic edifice. 
This curious change was planned and has been carried 
on by a native of the town who has had no training as an 
architect, and whose working drawings for the most part 
have been traced on the ground where the stone-masons 
are at work. The front and towers are nearly finished, 
and, while the structure will not bear scrutiny, the gen- 
eral effect is excellent. The interior of the church re- 
mains as it was left after a severe course of renovation 
between the years 1840 and 1846. There is an interest- 
in g: camarin in which is venerated a Crucifix known as 
the Senor de la Conquiata. Beneath the main altar is a 
crypt in which distinguished ecclesiastics and civilians 
are buried. Adjoining the parish church is the church 
of San Rafael (the Santa Escuela) in which there are 
some curious figures of saints — notably of San Antonio 
Abad, in fine old Spanish costume, who having lost his 
primitive pig has had supplied in its place a most sinis- 
ter looking pig of modern Mexican manufacture. Ves- 
pers, or any convenient service, should be heard in this 
church, the music being remarkably fine. The Oratorio 
of San Felipe Neri was founded in San Miguel in the year 
1712. The most beautiful thing in the city, one of the 
most beautiful things in all Mexico, is the chapel of the 
Casa de Loreto that is attached to this church. This ex- 
quisite creation, a jewel in carved wood, color, gilding, 
delicate metal-work and glazed tiles, was the gift, in the 
year 1635, of the Senor Don Manuel Tomas de la Canal 



SAIsr MIGUEL DE ALLENDE. 453 

and the Seiiora Dona Maria Herras de Flores, his wife — 
whose portraits are preserved in the Santa Casa. The 
palace in which this pious gentleman and his wife lived 
is now the Hotel AUende, and the very original decora- 
tion for a hotel — the figure of the Virgin of Loreto carved 
in stone over the main entrance — is a relic of these its 
former occupants. The family of Canal is now extinct 
in this hue. In the rear of the Santa Casa is a shrine in 
which are the bones of San Columban, preserved in a wax 
body and greatly venerated. 

Several other churches are well worth looking at : the 
Concepcion, a part of the ex-convent of Capuchinas, still 
preserving its convent chapel separated from the church 
by a double iron grating, and containing, in a cloister, 
some very gTotesque pictures ; San Francisco, with its 
adjoining ex-monastery ; Nuestra Sefiora de la Soledad ; 
and three or four more. The chapel of the Calvario 
stands at the top of a very steep street, and below it, 
extending to the plaza, where the fii'st is, are the four- 
teen Stations of the Cross. Sinners did penance in for- 
mer times by ascending this steep place upon their 
knees, stopping at each of the Stations to make the 
proper j)rayer. Near to the Calvario is the little Beate- 
rio * of Santo Domingo, attached to which is a small 
church built on two levels — the chancel beiug a terrace 
above the nave — on the side of the hill. The space re- 
served for the beatas is partitioned from the body of the 
church by a wooden grating. In a dark, crooked pas- 
sage, partly cut through the hillside, uniting the church 
and the Beaterio, is a dark cell, formerly used for penance 
and correction. The primitive town of San Miguel was 

* A beaterio is a community of women not vowed, not cloistered, 
not wearing the liabit of an order, but simply devoted to good 
works. 



454 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

founded nearly three miles west of the present city ; and 
on this ancient site the first small church, known as San 
Miguel Viejo, is still in existence, being now upward of 
three hundred years old. On the crest of a high hill in 
the rear of the old town is an altar — that from below 
seems to be a watch-tower — where services are held on 
certain festival days. 

History. Local historians insist that San Miguel was 
founded by the Franciscan Fray Juan de San IVIigiiel in 
the year 1542— when was built the little church, a 
league westward of the town, now styled San IVIiguel el 
Viejo. Historians at large insist, and in this they are 
rig-ht, that the formal foundation of the town was in the 
year 1560, under an order from the Viceroy Velasco to 
establish hereabouts an outpost against the Chichimec 
Indians. Both accounts are harmonized by the reason- 
able supposition that the Viceroy's post was placed close 
by the Franciscan mission. This city has an important 
place in the history of Mexican Independence. The 
eminent patriot Ignacio Allende was born here January 
20, 1779 — from which fact his name was added to that 
of the town shortly after Independence was secured. 
Allende was with Hidalgo in Dolores and gave vigorous 
aid to the rising of September 16, 1810 ; and when Hi- 
dalgo marched to San IVIiguel, the Queen's regiment, to 
which Allende belonged, then stationed there, was in- 
duced to join the revolt. 

Atotoniico. About ten or twelve miles north of San 
Migniel is the celebrated Santuario de Jesus Nazareno de 
Atotoniico, whence Hidalgo took the banner blazoned 
with the Virgin of Guadalupe that became the standard 
of Independence. Apart from its interesting historical 
associations, this very curious sanctuary is well worth a 
visit in itself. It was founded, in a place famous for 



MORELIA. 455 

robberies and murders, by the venerable Father Felipe 
Neri de Alfaro, in tlie year 1748. There is a main 
church, dedicated to Jesus Nazareno, and five large 
chapels. Unfortunately, the interior of the church was 
renovated in the year 1849. Pictures by Ibarra and 
Rodriguez Juarez still are in place. 



XX. MORELIA. 



Practical Walters. A tramway extends from the 
railway station into the city, passing the doors of the 
hotels. Fare, Q^ cents. Trunks, two reales each — with a 
trifle to the servant who brings them from the car to the 
bedchamber. The new Hotel Oseguera promises to be 
one of the most comfortable hotels in Mexico. Very 
fair quarters and food will be found also at the Hotel de 
Michoacan. At either the rate is $2 a day and upward, 
according to size and location of room. The nearest 
baths to the hotels (unless baths should prove to be a 
part of the Oseguera establishment) are those of the 
Soledad. Better baths, in the eastern suburb, are those 
of the Bosque and Recreo. The post-office is in the 
third block east from the southeastern corner of the 
cathedral. Morelia is famous for its dulces — jams of 
guava, peach, pear, and other fruits. These may be 
bought in the shops on the main plaza. The curious 
lacquered-ware of Uruapam may be bought in a house 
diagonally across and north from the post-office, in the 
street running east and west ; where also may be bought 
the famous Uruapam coffee. An excellent guide-book to 
Morelia (for sale for six reales in the bookstores on 
the main plaza) has been prepared by Senor Lie. Juan de 
la Torre. Even persons who do not read Spanish will 



456 MEXicAisr guide. 

do well to purchase this book because of its accompany- 
ing map. 

Site and Characteristics. Morelia, capital of the 
State of Michoacan, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants, 
on the line of the western division of the Mexican Na- 
tional Railway, 235 miles from the City of Mexico, at an 
elevation of 6,200 feet above the level of the sea. It is 
built upon a hill that rises in the midst of a lovely val- 
ley, is very clean, very dry, has an equable and delight- 
ful climate, and in general and in detail is one of the 
most thoroughly satisfying cities in Mexico. At the 
peak of the town is the cathedral, standing between the 
gardens in the plazas of the Martyrs, to the west, and of 
La Paz, to the east. From this central elevation the 
streets descend in all directions toward the encircling 
meadows. There are several minor plazas, and in the 
eastern suburb — reached by tramway or, more satisfac- 
torily, on foot along the picturesque causeway of Gua- 
dalupe — is the charming Paseo de San Pedro. At the 
northeast corner of this park, beyond the recently reno- 
vated chapel of San Pedro, is the ruinous chapel of the 
Concepcion — possibly the primitive church of Morelia, 
erected probably in 1541. To the east of the park are the 
foundations of the State Penitentiary, modelled upon the 
plan of the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania. This 
important work was begun in 1849 (under the law of De- 
cember 24, 1848), and was progressing in a very satisfac- 
tory manner when, in 1851, the Dictator Santa Anna confis- 
cated the fund of more than $100,000 reserved in the State 
Treasury for its prosecution. On the northern side of the 
city, near the cemetery of the Urdiales, is the abandoned 
Paseo de las Lechugas, and a partially completed stone 
bridge across an unfinished drainage-canal. Tins drain- 
age project came to an untimely end in 1869. The Cal- 



MOKELIA. 457 

zada de Guadalape was begun in the year 1732, by 
Bishop Calatayud, in order to make an easy and a pleas- 
ant approach to the sanctuary of Guadalupe. It is a 
raised stone causewa}' (about forty feet broad and four- 
teen hundred feet long), with stone parapets and stone 
benches along its sides, shaded by double rows of elms. 
The causeway was much improved in the latter part of 
the last century. The oldest elms were planted in 1791 
by the then Intendente, Don Juan Antonio de Eiano — 
who was slain when the city of Guanajuato was captured 
bv Hidalo^o. 

The water-supply of the city is derived from a spring- 
about four miles distant, whence the water is conduct- 
ed through a handsome stone aqueduct. This notable 
structure was erected in a year of famine, 1785, by the 
then Bishop of Michoacan, Fray Antonio de San Miguel 
Igiesias, in order to provide work, and so means to pro- 
cure food, for the starving people. Under the great arch 
of the aqueduct that spans the Calzada de Guadalupe 
is an inscription, in part illegible, commemorating this 
good bishop's charitable and useful work. 

The main plaza, called of the Martyrs, is ornamented 
by a pretty garden, dating from 1870, and is surrounded 
on three sides by arcades. Here Matamoras was exe- 
cuted, February 3, 1840 ; a fact commemorated by a 
mural tablet in the centre of the arcade on the eastern 
side. The dismal name of the plaza is derived from the 
very unjust execution here, December 8, 1830, of a com- 
pany of revolutionists. The plaza on the eastern side of 
the cathedral, also adorned with a garden, is that of La 
Paz. The Plaza of San Francisco, in front of the church 
of that name, was created on the site of the former 
burial-place in 1860. The market is held here. 

The Palacio del Gobierno, fronting the cathedral, for- 



458 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

merly was the Colegio Seminario. In this building are 
the chambers devoted to the State Government, the State 
archives, and a public library (mainly from the library 
of the Colegio de San Nicolas) of 15,000 volumes. This 
building was begun in 1732. It was occupied by the 
State Government in May, 1859. The house in which 
Morelos was born, September 30, 1765, marked by a 
commemorative tablet, is at the corner of the second 
block south from the cathedral. Continuing south on 
this same street to the first street on the left, and fol- 
lowing this one block, the house in which Morelos lived 
is seen. Here are preserved his portrait and the hand- 
kerchief that was about his head when, after trial by 
the Inquisition, he was shot, December 22, 1815. The 
house in which Yturbide was born, September 27, 1783, 
is in the first block east of the cathedral, on the left. 
In the house midway in the block, on the south side of 
the Plaza de los Martires, the first secret meetings in 
favor of National Independence were held ; and in the 
house opposite the Hotel Oseguera a party of conspir- 
ators against the Spanish Government was caj^tured in 
1809. The Casa Municipal is in the second block west 
from the southwest corner of the plaza. The Ocampo 
Theatre is at the corner of the second block north from 
the northwest corner of the plaza. The bull-ring, one 
of the finest in the country, is in the block west of the 
end of the aqueduct. It is built entirely of stone, 
will seat 3,000 spectators, and cost $20,000. It was 
opened, with great ceremony, November 1, 1844. The 
hipodromo is in the street running east and west, two 
blocks south of the plaza. The Hotel Oseguera is in the 
building, materially modified, erected for an episcopal 
palace by Bishop Juan Ortega Montanez about the year 
1685. SVhen this handsome building was completed, 



MO RE LI A. 459 

and was fnniislied at a great cost, there was some little 
talk in Morelia about the propriety of a churchman's 
dwelling- in so much luxury. And this talk coming to 
the Bishop's ears, he straightway presented his palace to 
the brothers of San Juan de Dios that they might make 
of it a hospital ; and such it was for many jeavs ! The 
hospital thus founded, now in the ex-convent of the Ca- 
j)uchinas, is maintained by the city government. 

Churches. The cathedral was founded in Tzintzun- 
tzan in the year 1538 ; was removed toPatzcuaro in 1540 ; 
and to Valladolid (now Morelia) by a decree of Novem- 
ber 9, 1579. What probably was the primitive cathedral 
building in this cit}', the present church of La Cruz, is 
a bare little place ; that is interesting, however, because 
of its age. The present cathedral w^as begun in 1640 ; and 
was dedicated, without the towers, in 1706. The organs 
were put in place in 1732 ; the towers were completed 
in 1744 ; the main altar and some of the side altars were 
rebuilt in 1845 ; the w^hole interior was repainted and 
regilt in 1880. The handsome iron railings and gates 
which enclose the atrium were erected in 1854. The 
silver railings, with silver images, candlesticks, and ves- 
sels, were removed from the cathedral, September 23, 
1858, by the Federal Government. This act was in con- 
sequence of the refusal of the chapter to pay a contribu- 
tion of $100,000. The value of the property removed 
is estimated at about §400,000, exclusive of the value of 
the workmanship. Even with this loss, ihe valuables 
remaining to the cathedral permit the mounting of the 
services with unusual magnificence. 

The exterior of the cathedral is impressive. On the 
north front rise two peculiarly beautiful and majestic 
towers. The isolation of the building— standing be- 
tween the plazas of the Martyi's and La Paz — greatly 



460 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

adds to its commanding effect. The interior has lost its 
charm of antiquity ; but, the renovations having been 
effected in good taste, still remains strikingly magnifi- 
cent. The woodwork about the choir is especially fine. 
In the rich sacristy are some interesting paintings by 
Rodriguez Juarez. On the eastern side of the building, 
communicating with it, is the Sagrario, the head parish 
church of the diocese. Here is the silver font in which 
both Morelos and Yturbide were baptized. 

The church of San Francisco is a foundation of 1531. 
The existing church was erected early in the seventeenth 
century ; the nave being completed, probably, in 1610, 
which date may be read over the main portal. Unfortu- 
nately, the interior was renovated in 1828. Tradition af- 
firms that a secret passage leads from the vaults of San 
Francisco to a point in the meadows outside of the city. 
In order to make room for the market now in front of 
this church (opened May 5, 1872) the chapels of the 
Tercer Orden and Eosario, together with the fourteen 
chapels of the stations of the cross, were destroyed, and 
the ancient grave-yard was taken possession of. In the 
rear of the church is a ruinous little chapel in which, it 
is believed by a considerable faction, was celebrated the 
first mass. Another considerable faction believes that 
the first mass was celebrated in the ruined chapel of the 
Concepcion, east of the Paseo de San Pedro. 

The church of the Augustinians, a foundation of 1550, 
is dedicated to Nuestra Sefiora de Socorro, and contains 
an image of this Virgin, especially venerated because it 
was presented to this convent by San Tomas de Villa- 
nueva. The existing church was begun in 1650, and was 
finished a few years later. It had the misfortune to be 
renovated in the jesir 1838. In this church are preserved 
portraits of Fray Alonzo de la Vera Cruz, the founder 



MORELIA. 461 

(1540) of the University of Tiripitio and (1552) of the 
University of Mexico ; of Fray Juan Bautista, "the Apos- 
tle of the Tierra CaHente," who died December 20, 1567 ; 
and of the eminent chronicler Diego Basalenque, who 
died in Charo in the year 1651. The sanctuary of Gau- 
dalupe, built in the year 1708, adjoins the ex-monastery 
of San Diego (now a hospital). The church was enlarged 
in 1776, and the main altar, by the architect Nicolas 
Luna, was erected about the year 1815. The organ is 
in a richly carved case, and the organ-loft is upheld by 
caryatides admirably carved. The chains which fence off 
the atrium of this church formerly were used as shackles 
for prisoners in the chain-gang, until the constitution of 
1857 did away with this and all other infamous punish- 
ments. The Carmen, a very handsome building, dating 
from 1596 (renovated 1839), contains some notable pict- 
ures by Juan and Nicolas Juarez, and a portrait of 
Bishop Palafox y Mendoza, by Cabrera. The Com- 
pafiia, including the college that was a part of the 
Jesuit foundation, is a mass of buildings very rich archi- 
tecturally. The existing church dates from 1681 ; but 
the isolated tower is almost a century older (the date 
1582 still may be deciphered upon it) and pertained to 
the first church built here. The college buildings are 
used for a trade-school. Other churches which may be 
visited are Santa Catalina de Sena, Las Teresas, and the 
Capuchinas, all of which pertained to convents of nuns ; 
the Merced and San Jose. 

Colegio de San ^8icolas. This is the oldest exist- 
ing collegiate institution in Mexico. It was founded 
in Patzcuaro, by Bishop Quiroga, in the year 1540, and 
was translated to Valladolid (now Morelia) when, in 
1580, that city became the seat of the See of Michoa- 
can. It was then consolidated, October 10, 1580, with 



462 MEXICAI^ GUIDE. 

the college established in Valladolid before 1566, by 
Fray Juan de San Miguel. A royal order of November 
23, 1797, established in the college a law-school. The 
institution was involved in the troubles incident to the 
war of independence, and from 1810 until 1847 was 
closed. In this latter year, through the efforts of Don 
Melchor Ocampo, it was reopened ; but was closed again 
during the Dictatorship of Santa Anna, and during the 
reign of Maximilian. The injuries done to the college 
building during the French occupation compelled its 
rebuilding. The college was reopened -in temporary 
quarters March 16, 1869, and took possession of its new 
building, on the ancient site, in May, 1882. In the coL- 
lege the portrait of Bishop Quiroga is preserved. One 
of the first pupils in this institution was Don Antonio 
Huitzimengari y Mendoza, son of the Calzontzin (see 
Patzcuaro) so cruelly murdered by Munoz. In later 
times it included among its pupils Morelos and Ytur- 
bide. 

Baths of Coincho. These baths are upon the hne 
of the railroad about ten miles out from Morelia, in a very 
picturesque region. The waters issue from the gTOund 
at almost 100° Fahr. There are no conveniences for 
bathing — even towels must be taken along — and pro- 
visions must be carried from Morelia, for nothing to eat 
can iJe bought. 

History. The City of Valladolid, now Morelia, was 
founded, May 18, 1541. In this year, according to the 
Augustinian chronicler Fray Diego Basalenque, "the 
Viceroy Mendoza found a very charming {iiuiy Undo) site 
for a city, having the seven qualities which Plato de- 
clares such a site should have ; and there he founded a 
city with the name of his own country, Valladolid, join- 
ing together some of the most noble people that were 



PATZCUATiO AND TZINTZUNTZAN. 463 

to be found in all the earth to be its citizens, so that 
at once a small but very noble city was there." It 
is very certain that no one having any knowledge of 
the beauty of Morelia, and of the " hidalgma " of its 
kindly inhabitants, will deny that it is a small but very 
noble city even until this day. 

Moreha suffered greatly during the revolutionary war, 
and at this period its population fell from upward of 
20,000 to less than 3,000 souls. In honor of the patriot 
Morelos, the name of the city was changed from Valla- 
dolid to Moreha by an Act of the Legislature of Mi- 
choacan of September 12, i828. 



XXL pAtzguaro and tzintzuntzan. 

Practical Matters. A coach carries passengers from 
the railway station into Patzcuaro at a charge of two 
redes, and baggage is brought in at the rate of two 
reales for each piece. The Hotel Concordia is the more 
desirable, but the beds are very hard, and the food is 
poor. At the Hotel Quiroga the food is a trifle better, 
but the rooms are not so good. The rate at either 
hotel, for food and lodging, is $2 a day for the better 
rooms. On " fish days," Tuesday and Friday, the excel- 
lent fish from the lake usually are served. Horses may 
be hired for the expeditions to Tzintzuntzan, Uruapam, 
and other points of interest, from Senor Pablo Plata. 
The hiring of canoes on the lake can be accomplished 
through the landlord of either of the hotels. It is 
probable that by Januarj^ a steamboat will have been 
launched upon the lake — to the detriment of the pictu- 
resque, but providing an easy way of getting to many in- 
teresting points which now are accessible only to robust 



464 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

travellers. Patzcuaro should be visited early in the win- 
ter. As the rainy season approaches the atmosphere be- 
comes thick, and this obscurity is increased by the 
numerous fires of charcoal-burners, to the serious injury 
of the landscape effect. 

Site and Characteristics. Patzcuaro (meaning in 
the Tarascan tongue " place of delights " ) is a city of 
8,000 inhabitants, in the State of Michoacan, at the pres- 
ent western extremity of the Mexican National Railway, 
274 miles from the City of Mexico, at an elevation of 7,200 
feet above the level of the sea. It is built upon hilly, 
broken ground, the streets are narrow and crooked, and 
the general effect is picturesque to a degree. There is 
a pretty central plaza surrounded by arcades, several 
minor plazas, and within the city are included upward 
of fifty blocks of houses. A considerable trade is trans- 
acted here between the plateau eastward and the hot 
country below to the west. The local market, held on 
Friday, always is interesting. Hammered copper vessels, 
feather pictures, very small carvings in bone, and micro- 
scopic work-boxes (little affairs of an inch or inch and 
a half long, properly fitted inside, and provided with 
lock and key), are among the products of the place, of 
which s]3ecimens should be secured. The city is sup- 
plied with water from an abundant spring, which, ac- 
cording to tradition, gushed forth from the rock struck 
by Bishop Quiroga with his staff. The facts that an altar 
was built over the spring, and that the staff still is pre- 
served in the cathedral in Morelia, attest the truth of 
this tradition. From the Hill of the Calvario, at the place 
known as Los Balcones, or Las Sillas, where stone seats 
have been placed by the Ayuntamiento, there is a very 
lovely view — the irregular city, the lake, with its three 
islands, its forty-seven surrounding towns, and its gToen 



PATZCUARO AND TZINTZUNTZAN. 465 

shores ; and in the background the tree-clad mountains. 
The path to this charming place is the causeway leading 
past the foiu'teen stations of the cross to the church of 
the Calvario. A \ery good view of the lake also may be 
had from just in the rear of the Hotel Concordia. 

Churches. Upon the removal hither of the seat of 
the See of Michoacan, Bishop Quiroga set about building 
a cathedral of very great size. License for this work 
was given by Julian III., in a bull published, July 8, 1550, 
and construction was pushed rapidly. Unfortunately, 
the ground upon which the building was placed proved 
to be unstable beneath the great weight, for which 
reason the pi'oject was abandoned. Only the nave was 
finished ; and this, the seat of the See having been re- 
moved to Morelia, now is the parish church. It will 
hold 3,000 people. This building was badly shaken by 
the earthquake of April 7, 1845, and again by that of 
June 19, 1858. 

"While the great cathedral was in course of erection, 
the seat of the See was the church that subsequently be- 
came the Compafiia. It was at the request of Bishop 
Quiroga, made direct to Loyola, that the Jesuits came to 
Mexico — although their actual arrival was not until after 
his death. Very properly, therefore, in this church that 
he founded and that the Jesuits subsequently occupied, 
is his sepulchre. In the altar on the evangel side (left 
side on entering) his bones are preserved in wrappings 
of silk. The figure of Nuestra Senora de la Salud, 
made by order of Bishop Quiroga, is preserved in the 
chiu'ch dedicated under this advocation. The exist- 
ing church, built at the end of the seventeenth century, 
pertained to the richest nunnery in Patzcuaro, and was 
exceedingly curious and interesting. Unfortunately, it 
was renovated in 1845. Other churches which may be 
30 



466 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

visited are San Agustin (close by the Hotel Concor- 
dia), a foundation of 1576, the existing church dating 
from the latter part of the seventeenth century ; San 
Juan de Dios, founded about 1650, but renovated in 
1841 (the hospital is maintained by the municipality) ; 
San Francisco, founded by Fray Martin de Coruiia, " the 
apostle of Michoacan," and containing his tomb ; Guada- 
lupe, built at the beginning of the present century. The 
interesting chapel of the Humilladero — rather more than 
a mile from the Plaza Mayor, on the road coming from 
Morelia — marks the spot where the Indians received 
peacefully the first Spaniards that ever were in these 
parts. 

Lake Patzcuaro is a body of fresh water nearly 
twenty miles long by ten miles broad. It encircles three 
islands : Xanicho, with a population of upward of 1,000 ; 
Xaracuaro, with a population of about 100, and Pacanda, 
on which are a few families. All of this island popula- 
tion, together with the greater portion of the dwellers 
upon the mainland near the lake, is supported by fish- 
ing. Xanicho is a progressive little community, main- 
taining schools for girls and for boys, and boasting a 
queer little church, San Geronimo. In the year 1791 a 
feluca (sprit-rig sail-boat) was put upon the lake to serve 
as a model for the Indians ; and in 1857 a six-oared barge 
was placed here with the same laudable purpose. But 
the iidians, while expressing abstract approval of these 
fine craft, continued to use their canoes. During the 
present season a steamboat, with capacity for carrying- 
three hundred passengers, probably, will be put in com- 
mission. From the lake many prehistoric relics — shields, 
idols, pottery — have been recovered. 

Tzintz»intzan (an imitative name: the sound of 
humming-birds, which abound here). By trail or boat, 



PATZCUAKO AND TZINTZUNTZAN. 467 

this town is about 15 miles from Patzcuaro. The ride is 
a hard one. Provisions must be carried along, for there 
is not even afonda in the town. 

Tzintzuntzan was the capital of Michoacan in the 
time of the Tarascan chieftaincy. Its population before 
the Conquest is stated at 40,000 souls. Its present pop- 
ulation is less than 2,600. The town, built of adobe, 
straggles over two low hills lying close to the eastern 
edge of the lake. With the translation in 1540 of the 
seat of the See of Michoacan to Patzcuaro, the importance 
of the town vanished and it rapidly fell into decay. The 
Franciscan establishment here was closed in 1740, and 
all that now remains of the convent is a ruined cloister, 
in the midst of which is a tangled garden. Near by is 
«n orchard of extraordinarily large olive-trees, planted 
here three centuries and a half ago ; and beneath the 
olive-trees is the ancient burial-place. The chaj)els of 
the Tercer Orden and the Hospital still exist, though 
falling into ruin ; and the convent church, a bare, shabby 
place, is in a little better order only because it has been 
made the parroquia. The one industry of the little 
town is potting, and the potteries will be found worth a 
visit. In the forlorn Casa Municipal is an interesting 
picture of the Calzontzin Sinzicha receiving Christian- 
ity. Excavations were undertaken here in 1855 by Father 
Aguirre, with the result of laying bare the beginning of a 
subterranean passage. Without any acts of violence, 
but simply by filling up the excavated place, the Indians 
put a stop to the further progress of the work. 

The only really important point of interest in Tzin- 
tzuntzan — seeing which more than balances all the diffi- 
culties and discomforts of making the expedition even 
on horseback — is the picture in the sacristy of the par- 
ish church : an Entombment, attributed to Titian. Sur- 



468 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

rounding the dead Christ are the Virgin, Magdalen, 
Saint John, and seven other figures, all life-size. The 
tradition concerning this picture asserts positively that 
it is by Titian, and that it was sent to Bishop Quiroga by 
Philip II. — and in substantiation of this assertion the 
figure at the extreme right, in the background, is pointed 
to as that of the royal donor. Intrinsic evidence sup- 
ports the tradition. The extraordinarily fine color, the 
composition, the grouping, the attitudes of the individual 
figures, the treatment of the lights and shades, and the 
quality of the bit of landscape in the background, all 
seem to indicate Titian as the master. An effort on the 
part of the Archbishop of Mexico to purchase this v^ork 
was unsuccessful. The Indians absolutely refused to per- 
mit the picture to be taken away. 

Iguatzio. This little town lies close to Tzintzun- 
tzan, with which it communicates by a well-paved road. 
It is remarkable because of its many prehistoric re- 
mains : A pyramid that now serves as ^ plaza de armas; 
the remains of a fortress or tower ; sepulchres from 
which ornaments, idols, arms, and implements of various 
sorts have been taken. Two timbered subterranean 
passages found here remain unexplored. Tradition de- 
clares that they communicate with the passage discov- 
ered in Tzintzuntzan in 1855. The paved surface road- 
way between the two towns also antedates the coming 
of the Spaniards. 

History. After the conquest of the Valley of Mexico, 
embassies passed between Cortes and the Tarascan Cal- 
zontzin {i.e., chief) Sinzicha ; and in the end the Tarascan 
ruler begged that Cortes would send him teachers to teach 
his people how to worship the powerful Christian gods. 
And missionaries went to them, and many of them became 
Christians ; and all were inclined to listen to the preaching 



PATZOUAKO AND TZINTZUNTZAN. 469 

of the Christian faith. The end of this good order of 
things came through the evil acts of Nino de Guzman. 
This man, the President of the first Audencia, came into 
IVIichoacan at the head of an army, with which he had 
set out for the conquest of JaHsco. He levied ujDon 
the C^lzontzin for 10,000 men and much treasure. The 
men were provided ; bat the tribute to the Spaniards 
having almost exhausted the chief's treasury, very little 
treasure could be brought. Guzman believed that the 
treasure was being concealed fi'om him. Therefore he 
burned the Calzontzin to death ; and other horrid tort- 
ures he applied to other chiefs. And the people, mad- 
dened with terror, fled from their homes to the moun- 
tains and refused at all to return. 

To remedy the many evils done in Mexico by the 
first Audencia, for the ill-doing was not confined to 
Michoacan, the Emperor Charles V. selected very care- 
full}^ the members of the second Audencia from among 
the wisest and best men of Spain. And one of its mem- 
bers w^as an eminent lawyer, the Licenciado Vasco de 
Quiroga. Being come to Mexico, and hearing of the 
condition of things with the Tarascan Indians, Don 
Vasco himself went, in the year 1533, to the depopulated 
towns ; and wdth an admirable patience and gentleness 
and love, prevailed at last upon the terror-stricken In- 
dians to have faith in him and return to their homes. 
The Bishopric of Michoacan then was founded, and this 
mitre — having been renounced by Fray Luis de Fuen- 
salida — was offered to Quiroga, though he was then a 
layman, by the Emperor Charles V. Therefore Quiroga 
took holy orders, and, having been raised quickly through 
the successive grades of the priesthood, was consecrated 
a bishop, and took possession of his See in the church of 
San Francisco in Tzintzuntzan, August 22, 1588 ; being 



470 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

himself at this time sixty-eight years old. As bishop he 
completed the conquest through love that he had be- 
gun while yet a layman. He established schools of let- 
ters and the arts ; introduced the manufacture of copper 
ware and other metal working ; imported from Spain 
cattle and seeds for acclimatization ; founded hospitals ; 
and established, the first university (San Nicolas, now in 
Morelia) that ever w^as in New Spain. This holy man 
died at XJruapam, while engaged upon a diocesan visi- 
tation, on the evening of Wednesday, March 14, 1565, 
being nearly ninety-six years old. To this day his per- 
sonality is a living force in Michoacan ; his name is rev- 
erenced, his memorv is loved. 

The City of Michoacan was founded by a royal order 
given, February 28, 1534, by the Emperor Charles V., 
and the territory over which this city had jurisdiction 
included, both Tzintzuntzan and Patzcuaro. In all an- 
cient documents the two towns are referred to as a single 
city. In moving the seat of his See, therefore, Bishop 
Quiroga did not go outside of the chartered limits 
of the Cit}'' of Michoacan. Very little of Tzintzunt- 
zan was left after the migration, for the colony that was 
planted in Patzcuaro consisted of twenty families of 
Spaniards, and upward of 30,000 Tarascan Indians. The 
seat of the See was translated finally to Valladolid (now 
Morelia, which see) by a decree of November 9, 1579. 



XXII. MONTEREY. 

Practical Matters, A tramway extends from the 
railway station to the Plaza Mayor, fare 6^ cents. 
Carriages may be hired at the station for four reales for 
four passengers or less. Trunks can be brought in on 



MONTEREY. 471 

carriages for t-wo realcs ; or may be sent in on a cart for 
the same price. The least objectionable of the hotels is 
the Hidalgo, in the rear of the Casa Municipal, near the 
main plaza. The other hotels are the Yturbide and 
Leader. At each of these the rates range from $1.50 to 
82.50 a day (according to quality of room) for board and 
lodging. To secure less than the highest rate a bar- 
gain must be made in advance. The more desirable 
baths in the city are those of the Befugio, in the Calle 
del Dr. Mier. Carriages are for hire (in the plaza in front 
of the Hotel Hidalgo) for four reales an hour. On feast- 
days the rate is six reales an hour. A tramway extends 
westward from the main plaza to the foot of the hill on 
which stands the Obispado Viejo (fare, one real), and 
thence, passing near the alameda, to the hot baths at 
Topo Chico (fare, two reales). The post-office is on the 
south side of the Plaza Mayor. The excellent white wine 
of Parras sometimes can be bought (for about $5 the 
dozen) at the drug store at the corner of the Calles del 
Teatro and Dr. Mier. 

The Hot Baths. At Topo Chico, about three miles 
north of the city, are hot baths reputed to possess valu- 
able curative qualities in nervous, rheumatic, and other 
diseases. The temperature is 106°. A large a.nd well- 
arranged bathing establishment is in course of erection 
at the springs, and is announced to be in readiness for 
use by Februar^^ 1, 1887. A tramway extends from the 
main plaza to Topo Chico : fare, two reales ; including 
bath ticket, four reales. 

Site and Characteristics. Monterey, capital of the 
State of Nuevo Leon, is a city of about 20,000 inhabitants, 
on the line of the Mexican National Railway, 172 miles 
southwest of Laredo, at an elevation of 1,800 feet above 
the level of the sea. Although invaded by an American 



472 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Colony, this city still is essentially Mexican ; and a 
traveller who cannot take time for a long journey into 
Mexico readily may obtain here in a week or a fort- 
night a very good notion of Mexican manners and cus- 
toms, as well as a comforting association with the roman- 
tic and picturesque. The city is built upon broken 
ground in the midst of a great plain, from w^hich rises 
on the east the Cerro de la Silla (4,149 feet) and on the 
west the Cen-o de las Mitras (3,618 feet). To the south 
is the magnificent sweep of the Sierra Madre. A spur 
of the Mitras juts out above the city to the west, and on 
this is perched commandingly the building known as the 
Obispado Viejo. In the very heart of the city is the 
great spring, the Ojo de Agiia. The little Plaza Mayor 
is a charming garden, in the midst of which is a quaint 
fountain. Fronting upon the plaza is the handsome ca- 
thedral, and near by is the ancient church of San Fran- 
cisco — where, in the old convent garden, grows a single 
stately palm. Northwest of the city is a neglected ala- 
meda ; beyond this the curious Campo Santo, and in this 
vicinity are bushy lanes very pleasant either for walking or 
riding. Along the highway leading west from the city 
are many charming country places — casas de reereo : houses 
standing in great gardens fed by abundant water and full 
of fruit and flowers. In the northeastern quarter of the 
city is the bridge of the Purisima, on which there was 
some sharp fighting in 1846. The more important build- 
ings, aside from the churches, are : The Casa Municipal, 
on the west side of the Plaza Mayor ; the Episcopal Palace, 
just south of the cathedral ; the State Government build- 
ing ; the large theatre. The bull-ring is merely a shed. 
West of the city, on a spur of the Mitras, is the building- 
mentioned above, the old Episcopal Palace ( Obispado Viejo). 
This very picturesque building, now occupied as an ai*til- 



MONTEREY. 478 

lery barrack and falling into decaj^, was erected between 
the years 1782-90 by Bishop Verger ; not as liis formal 
abiding-place, but as a palacio de recreo — where his Epis- 
copal dignity might unbend a little, and where, after his 
labors, he might find refreshment and ease. North of 
the city is a ruinous mass of buildings known as " the 
black fort." Here was begun, about 1792, the first ca- 
thedral. The site was abandoned for that occupied by 
the existing cathedral ; and u]3on the available founda- 
tion was reared the Citadel at the time of the American 
invasion. 

Churches. The cathedral is a modern structure, 
begun in the last decade of the last century and conse- 
crated July 4, 1833. It never was remarkable for the 
richness of its decorations, and its various injuries and 
losses in war times have left it still more bare. At the 
time of the American attack upon the city it was used 
as a powder-magazine — and only a series of lucky acci- 
dents saved it, amidst the bursting shells, from being 
blown into fragments. The building is very massive, 
and its exterior effect, while rather heavy, is decidedly 
impressive. The oldest religious foundation in the city 
probably is the church of San Francisco, that dates, pos- 
sibly, from 1560 ; and that certainly was not founded 
later than 1596. Upon the site of the primitive church 
building is a ruinous structure that dates from the early 
part of the seventeenth century ; and adjoining this is 
the existing church, dating from 1730. The convent 
now is the city jail. The church of Nuestra Senora del 
Koble, in which the miraculous image of Our Lady of 
the Oak is enshrined, is a large and handsome building, 
begun in the year 1855, and as yet not quite completed. 

In the convent of the Caridad, now occupied by an ad- 
mirably organized charity school, is an unfinished clois- 



474 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

ter with very elegant hanging key-stones. The convent 
of the Capuchinas now is used as a hospital. South of 
the city, on the foot-hills of the Sierra, are the chapels of 
Guadalupe and Lourdes — the last completed in 1882. 

Excursions. Garcia, or Pesqueria, 20 miles south of 
Monterey by rail, is a very picturesque little adohe town. 
Near by are two notable caves, which may be visited in 
company with Senor Sanchez, a trustworthy guide. Pro- 
visions should be carried along, as there is no fonda in 
Pesqueria. The Potrero, a meadow surrounded by very 
high mountains and reached through a fine canon, may 
be visited from Monterey by carriage — an interesting 
drive (along the great highway to the south) to the town 
of Santa Catarina, and thence to the Potrero — in all, 
about 12 miles. This is a favorite place for picnic parties. 
Excursions also may be made to the cotton-mills at Santa 
Catarina, to the village of Guadalupe, about four miles 
east of the city, and to the hot baths at Topo Chico, men- 
tioned above. 

History. The first settlement here, made about the 
year 1560, was known as Santa Lucia ; and the little 
stream that crosses the city from west to east still bears 
this name. The formal settlement was made in Sep- 
tember, 1596, by Fray Diego de Leon ; at which time 
was conferred the title of city and the name of Monterey 
— in honor of Don Gaspar de Zuniga, Conde de Monte- 
rey, the then viceroy. At the time of the American in- 
vasion Monterey was garrisoned by a force of upward 
of 9,000 men, commanded by General Ampudia. The 
city was attacked by General Taylor, commanding a 
force of 7,000 men, September 21, 1846, and, after three 
days of hard fighting, surrendered on the 24th. The 
most brilliant feature of the attack was the storming of 
the Obispado Viejo by General Worth on the morniog 



CUERNAVACA. 475 

of the 21st, and of the height above on the ensuing da}'. 
Possession of these positions virtually assured the sur- 
render of the city. 



XXIII. CUERNA VA GA. 

The Journey. A regular line of diligencias -plies be- 
tween the City of Mexico and Cuernavaca, leaving the 
city at 6 a.m. on Mondays, "Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
and returning on the following days. The fare each 
way, including an allowance of twenty-five pounds of lug- 
gage, is $4.50, Mexican money. Seats should be secured 
in advance at the general offices of diligencias in the rear 
of the Hotel Yturbide. A rough and uncomfortable 
drive of more than two hours can be avoided by taking 
the tramway to Tlalpam, and there claiming the re- 
served seats. This journey of a day is a thoroughly 
characteristic bit of diligence travel, with the added ad- 
vantao'es of following? a road that leads throuq'h wonder- 
fully fine scenery to a very picturesque and historically 
interesting town — the favorite dwelling-place of Cortes, 
and the favorite dwelling-place also of Maximilian. 

From Tlalpam the road ascends steadily, and by steep 
grades, the pass between Ajusco and Tapucia — giving a 
fine view northward of the Valley of Mexico, with Tlal- 
pam and the Pedregal in the foreground ; Coyoacan, 
Churubusco, and San Angel in a line beyond ; Tacubaya 
and Chapultepec still further ; the City of Mexico in the 
middle distance, and in the background the Guadalupe 
Mountains. At El Guarda (where breakfast is served), 
an old defensive outpost, nearly 10,000 feet above sea- 
level, the highway from Xochimilco and points to the 
eastward enters the main road by a pass on the eastern 
side of Tapucia. Some distance beyond this point, at 



476 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Cruz del Marques (where the Marques del Valle de Oa- 
xaca, otherwise Cortes, set up a cross to mark the north- 
ern boundary of his Cuernavaca estate), the long descent 
begins — and does not end until Cuernavaca is reached, 
about 2 P.M. 

Practical WSatters. The Diligencias, at which the 
diligencia brings up, is a fairly comfortable hotel in a 
strikingly picturesque situation. The rate is $2 a d-^j. 
Arrangements may be made at the diligencia office for 
horses, or for a coach, for expeditions into the surround- 
ing country. If the negotiation is conducted with a cour- 
teous diplomacy very reasonable terms may be secured. 
There are excellent baths in the town and in the sub- 
urbs. 

Site and Characteristics. Cuernavaca (literally, 
" cow-horn," a corruption of the primitive name Quauh- 
nahuac, meaning, " where the eagle stops ") is a city 
of 12,000 inhabitants, the capital of the State of Mo- 
relos. The Cuernavaca Valley lies at an elevation of 
nearly four thousand feet above sea-level, and, being 
abundantly watered, is one of the most fertile regions, 
and one of the most important sugar-producing districts, 
in Mexico. 

The town of Cuernavaca, at an elevation of 4,900 feet 
above the sea, is built upon a headland that projects into 
the valley between two steep barrancas, or ravines. Be- 
ing plentifully supplied with water, the whole town is 
a garden, and is almost buried in abundant masses of 
trees. The winter climate is very delightful, and excel- 
lent fruit abounds here ; with which tropical luxuries 
are the tropical drawbacks of venomous insects and rep- 
tiles. The streets of the io^^^l are narrow and crooked, 
with the single exception of the Calle Nacional. The 
houses for the most part are roofed with red tiles — pro- 



CUEKNAVAOA. 477 

ducing a veiy pleasing eilect when the town is looked 
down upon from the Cerro de Calvario and the red roofs 
are seen amidst the green masses of the trees. The 
Plaza Mayor is irregular in shape, and is adorned with a 
garden. The Plaza de Mercado is a recent erection, at 
a cost of $20,000. What was the palace of Cortes is 
now the State Government building, including the cham- 
bers of the legislature, the courts, jail, and offices. The 
building had fallen into a ruinous condition, when it w^as 
repaired and devoted to these uses in 1872. The other 
place of especial note is the Jardin de Borda — the garden 
surrounding the house built by the rich miner, Joseph de 
la Borde. The garden lies on a terraced slope and is full 
of fruit and flowers. There are great tanks, and every- 
where little running streams. In the day of its perfec- 
tion this place was a realization of a dream of fairyland. 
Even now, though falling into decay, it is very beauti- 
ful. Joseph de la Borde, or, as he was known in Mexico, 
Jose de la Borda, born in the year 1700, came from 
France to Mexico when but sixteen years old ; and by 
his fortunate mining ventures at Tlalpujahua, Tasco, and 
Zacatecas, he made a fortune of $10,000,000. Upward 
of a million was spent in the creation of this garden. 
Another million was spent in building and decorating 
the great church at Tasco. 

Churches. January 2, 1529, there came to Cuerna- 
vaca, to found the church and convent of San Francisco, 
certain brothers of the Franciscan order, among them 
Fray Juan Torribio Benevente, called Motolinia ; and 
the establishment founded under such w^orthy auspices 
was one of the most important that pertained to the 
order in Mexico. The church, large, high, commanding, 
is a single gxeat nave, with several dependent chapels. 
In the tower is a clock that tradition tells was in the 



478 MEXICAIT GUIDE. 

clock-tower of the Segovia cathedral, and thence was 
sent by Charles V. to Cortes. Other churches are the 
Tercer Orden, the Asuncion (the parish church), San 
Pedro, Guadalupe (built by Jose de la Borda the 
younger), and the Calvario, on a height just outside the 
city. 

Suburban Expeditions. Near the city are the 
Springs of Guadalupe, and others, whence the water- 
supply is drawn ; and in this region are three cascades. 
The larger of these, about 25 feet high, is in the ravine of 
Tlaltenango ; there is another in a little ravine off from 
that of Amanalco, and the third, over basaltic rocks, is 
in the barrio of San Antonio. This suburb of San An- 
tonio is reached by way of a well-built road. There are 
potteries here which will repay a visit, and below the 
water-fall is a charming? lake. In the rear of the house 
called the Casa de Cortes (not to be confounded with the 
Palacio de Cortes, in the city proper) is a solitary rock 
upon which are prehistoric carvings ; and on the crest 
of a little hill near by is a lizard, about eight feet long, 
carved in stone. A league to the southeast, on a hill 
called Quauhtetl (meaning stone eagle), is an eagle nearly 
a yard across, carved in stone. A very interesting ex- 
pedition may be made to one of the many sugar hacien- 
das in the vicinity. Several of these are worthy of note 
because of their antiquity — as that of Temisco, a great 
building in the old Spanish style erected soon after the 
Conquest. At the hacienda of Atlacomulco may be seen, 
in addition to the growing cane, plantations of coffee and 



oranges. 



History. Cuernavaca was captured by Cortes, aided 
by his Tlascalan allies, before siege was laid to the City of 
Mexico ; and from its capture dates its foundation as a 
Christian town. In the municipal archives, documents 



AMECAMECA. 479 

relating to the conquest and settlement may be seen. 
The valley of Cuernavaca was included in the grants made 
to Cortes by the Emperor Charles V. ; and upon his estate 
here, his favorite abiding-place, he began in Mexico the 
cultivation of the cane. It was upon this estate that the 
last years of the Conqueror's life in Mexico were passed. 

Excursions. From Cuernavaca an interesting, but 
rather rough, expedition of eighteen miles on horseback 
may be made to the ruins of Xochicalco. These, re- 
garded variously as remnants of a temple or a fortress, 
surmount a rocky eminence nearly two miles in circum- 
ference. Their most important feature is a portion of a 
well-constructed stone building that measures seventy- 
six by sixtj^-eight feet. A still rougher expedition, of 
tliree or four days, may be made to the famous caves of 
Cacahuamilpa, about forty-five miles to the south. 

The return from Cuernavaca to Mexico may be made 
by the diligencia, or by hiring horses and riding across 
to Yautepec, in the very early morning, and thence by 
rail. (See Interoceauic Bail way.) The ride is through 
the beautiful cane country, with magnificent mountain 
scenery constantly in sight. 



XXIV. AMECAMECA. 

Practical Information. The Hotel Ferro Carril, 
close to the railway station, is a bare little place, with 
very hard beds ; but it is clean, the food is very fair, 
and the landlord, Sefior Manuel Tiracla, is a gentle, 
obliging man whose good-natured desire to do every- 
thing that a landlord ought to do really is one of the 
attractions of the place. Rates, |2 a day for food and 
lodging. For terms of a week or longer the rate is re- 



480 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

duced to 12 reales a day. A crude red wine is sold for 
$1 the bottle ; good Mexican-brewed beer, two reales the 
bottle ; excellent pu/^ we, free. The desirable rooms to 
secure are those in the southeast corner of the hotel, 
commanding — across the high peaked roofs of the town 
— the great view of the volcanoes. (See Interoceanic 
Railway.) 

Site and Characteristics. Amecameca, a town of 
10,000 inhabitants, in the State of Mexico, on the line 
of the Interoceanic Railway, lies at the eastern base of 
the volcanoes, on the farther side of a wide valley, at an 
elevation of 7,600 feet above the level of the sea. A 
visit to Mexico that does not include a short sta^^ here 
is incomplete — for the view from the terrace of the 
Sacro Monte (almost as good from the windows of the 
hotel) is one of the great views of the world. If possi- 
ble, the visit here should be made in Januarv, when the 
crests of the mountains are not likely to be obscured by 
clouds. 

The Sacro !V!onte. A secondary attraction, in it- 
self very well worth a visit, is the shrine of the Sacro 
Monte. The little hill thus named, rising abruptly from 
the plain, and covered with a thick growth of trees, was 
the favorite abiding-place of the good Fray Martin de 
Valencia, one of the " Twelve Apostles." (See The Re- 
ligious Orders.) This holy man was greatly beloved by 
the Indians, for his goodness to them ; and he was so 
loved of wild creatures that many little animals came to 
live near him upon the Sacro Monte, and great flocks 
of sweet-singing birds sang to him from the branches of 
the trees. His home was the cave, that now is the ca- 
Tuarin of the shrine. And it is said that after his death 
and burial at Tlalmanalco the Indians secretly removed 
his body thence and buried it here in the cave ; that his 



AMECAMECA. 481 

presence might be with them, and that his bones might 
rest in the place where he had so loved to dwelL 

In the shrine is preserved a greatly reverenced image 
of the dead Christ, called of the Holy Sepulchre (Santo 
Intierro), that tradition declares Fray Martin himself 
placed here about the year 1527. This is possible, yet 
it must be noted that the chronicler Mendieta, while 
mentioning the Sacro Monte, and the fact that Fra}'- 
Martin dwelt here, does not mention the image as being 
here also. Another legendary account of the matter is 
that certain muleteers, who were carrying holy images 
to a southern town, lost from' their train hereabouts the 
mule upon which this image was packed. And when 
the mule was found he was standing quietly in the cave 
upon the mount. Thus it was seen of all the townspeo- 
ple that the image was pleased to abide here with them 
for theu' protection ; therefore they bought it of the 
muleteers and placed it in a shrine in the cave that it 
had chosen to be its home. Whichever of these leo"ends 
is true, at least it is certain that the image has been in 
this place for more than three centuries — since before 
the year 1550. It is made of a very light material, 
probably the pith of corn-stalks prepared with some 
sort of gum, and although it is life-size it weighs but a 
little more than two pounds. A great pilgrimage is made 
to this shrine every year, in Holy-Week. When these 
pilgrimages began is unknown — possibly they are survi- 
vals, as in the case of the shrine of Guadalupe, of a rite 
antedating Christianity. The beginning of the annual 
festival (for it really is a festival, not a fast, as it strictly 
should be) is on Ash- Wednesday, when the image is 
brought down from its shrine and placed in the parish 
church, and when a fair is held in the town. The great 
fair of the year is held in Holy- Week ; and on Good- 
31 



482 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Friday the feast culminates in the return of the image 
to its shrine. Preceding its return, a masque of the 
Passion is played in the atrium of the parish church. 
This is a most curious and interesting exhibition, in 
which the actors are Indians ; a veritable bit of the Mid- 
dle Ages in which may be seen in crude realism Avhat at 
Oberammergau has become little more than a mere the- 
atrical performance. It is much better worth seeing 
than is the more conventional celebration in the cathe- 
dral in the City of Mexico. Until the yeai* 1885 the 
bringing down and carrying up of the holy image from 
and to its shrine was attended with solemn ceremonials 
and a great procession — the law forbidding religious pro- 
cessions to the contr^'y notwithstanding. In 188(3, for 
the first time in more than three centuries (the new law 
being then enforced) the processions did not take place. 
In the interest of the picturesque it is to be regretted 
that this curious custom has come to an end. The re- 
turn of the image, up the ^vinding- causeway to its shrine 
on the hill, after dark on Good-Friday evening, accom- 
panied by a gi^eat multitude of Indians bearing torches, 
was one of the most curious and most striking spectacles 
to be seen in Mexico. This festival, like that of Guada- 
lupe, is managed mainly by the Indians themselves. 
Visitors on Ash- Wednesday should not fail to see the 
religious daxice in the porch before the shrine. In wit- 
nessing this festival at Amecameca, or any religious fes- 
tival in which the majority of the participants are In- 
dian^ not only good breeding but personal safety re- 
quires the manifestation of all outward signs of respect, 
and entire absence of anything, in word or gesture, that 
implies amusement or contempt. 

In order to provide for the annual procession, a stone 
causeway has been made upon the hiUside, in the course 



AMECAMECA. 483 

of which is a little chapel and the fourteen Stations of 
the Cross. Very devout pilgrims make the ascent of 
this rougli, stony place upon their knees. The shrine 
proper is an octagonal building of comparatively recent 
erection, to which the cave is the camarin. A great many 
ex votos hang here — thank-offerings from those whom 
the Santo Intierro miraculously has preserved from dan- 
gers, or directly saved from death. From the terrace is 
the great view of the volcanoes. The large church and 
convent southward, in the valley, are the most obvious 
features of the little town of Ayapango. On the crest of 
the Sacro Monte, at a considerably higher level than the 
shrine, is the chapel of Guadalupe. In this is a joainting 
of certain of the hermit saints by Villalobos. A really 
good picture, nearly rotted from its frame, the Virgin of 
the Castle, hangs high upon the eastern wall. In the 
hard clay hereabouts are seen crude gravings of hands 
and feet, occasionally with the cross. These are the 
work of pilgrims, in tangible evidence that their hands 
and feet have been upon the holy place. Another curi- 
ous custom of the pilgrims, " for good luck," is that of 
leaving some part of their possessions — usually a rag torn 
from their dress, with hairs from their head — fastened 
upon the trees of the holy hill. 

History and Matters of Interest, The town of 
Amecameca was founded before the Conquest. The cu- 
racy was established and the parish church was begun 
by the Dominicans in 1547. The existing church dates 
from about the year 1709. It is a large and handsome 
building, containing some curious carvings by Miranda, 
and a fairly good picture of Christ bearing the Cross. 
It is dedicated to Nuestra Seiiora de la Asuncion and 
San Sebastian. Over the arched entrance to the atrium 
the legs of San Sebastian remain— the rest of this unfor- 



484 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

tunate saint having fallen in the earthquake of 1884. 
Upon the arch under which passes the way from the 
church to the Sacro Monte is a statue of San Simon Sti- 
htes. Upon the wall of the abandoned chapel of the 
Santa Escuela is a glazed tile bearing an inscription of 
gratitude to Yturbide, " our Liberator ;" and asking that, 
in thankfulness and Christian charity, prayers be said 
for the repose of his soul. The little chapel of the Eo- 
sario, in the eastern part of the town, has rather good 
carved wooden doors, a fair altarpiece, and excellent 
carved fio-ures of Santa Ana and San Jose. "What was 
the most interesting relic in the town, the surviving tower 
of the very ancient foundation of San Juan, was destroyed 
by the earthquake of 1884. The material of the tower 
was used in the construction of the Casa Municipal on 
the west side of the Plaza Mayor. 

Near the town of Amecameca, at Nepantla, was born 
ihe " musa Mexicana," Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, the 
celebrated Mexican poetess of the seventeenth century. 
The present literary celebrity of the town is due to the 
fact that the present Vicario Foraneo is Sr. Br. D. Fortino 
Hipolito Vera, the learned editor of the new edition of 
Beristain y Souza and a recognized authority in Mexican 
ecclesiastical history. 

Ascent of Popocatepetl. Amecameca is the point 
of departure from the railway in making the ascent of 
Popocatepetl. Provisions for the expedition can be ob- 
tained at the Hotel Ferrocarril — canned meats, and 
wines and liquors, however, should be brought from 
the city. Arrangements for horses, guides, 'etc., can be 
made with Sr. Juan Noriega Mijares, the pro23rietor of the 
large shop, La Flor de Amecameca, on the north side of 
the Plaza Mayor. A note from General Ochoa, the 
owner of Popocatepetl, will greatly facilitate these ar- 



MIIS^OR CITIES AND TOWN'S. 485 

rangements ; as well as a cordial reception by his agents 
at the sulphur works on the mountain. The first night 
is passed at General Ochoa's rancho, Tlamacas, at an 
elevation of 13,000 feet. On the ensuing morning the 
ascent should be begun at a very early hour ; on horse- 
back to the snow line, and thence upward on foot. The 
descent into the crater can be made by means of the 
bucket and windlass used by the sulphur- gatherers. The 
second night, also, is passed, in returning, at Tlamacas. 
Amecameca is reached in time for mid-day breakfast, 
before returning to Mexico on the afternoon train. The 
cost of this expedition, for a party of four — including 
railway fares, meals at hotels, and all other incidental 
expenses — is about $25 apiece. The expedition is a 
very exhausting one, and should be undertaken only by 
strong persons in good health. It is especially perilous 
to those suffering from affections of the heart. Its dis- 
comforts are manifold. The sulphur rancho consists 
of a draughty shelter, and a terribly bad smell ; the 
walk upward through the snow is a severe physical 
strain. The more necessary preparations for the ascent 
are : Light but warm woollen clothing, including woollen 
mittens ; cotton-cloth swathings for the feet ; an outfit 
of thick blankets — which are not to be had at Tlama- 
cas, and which the severe cold at night renders indispen- 
sable ; smoked glasses, and plenty of nourishing food. 



XXV. MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 

Acambaro. A town of 10,000 inhabitants, in the 
State of Guanajuato, on the line of the Mexican National 
Railway, the point of junction of the Western Division 
with the main line, 178 miles from the City of Mexico. 



486 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

There is a restaurant at the railway station, where the 
service is bad and the food tolerably good. Meals here 
cost six reales. A small hotel in the town affords poor 
meals for four reales each, and doubtful rooms at a dol- 
lar a day. 

Acambaro (meaning, in the Tarascan tongue, "the 
place where the maguey abounds ") lies in the Lerma 
Valley, in the midst of a fertile and beautiful country. 
Lying on the line of the old highway to the west coast, 
it formerly was a halting-place of some importance, and 
even at one time had a considerable trade of its own. It 
was in this period of prosperity that the great stone 
bridge — replacing an earlier structure — was built across 
the Lerma by the Ayuntamiento of the town. Now it 
is of no importance at all — only a delightful do-nothing, 
down-at-heel, little Mexican town. However, the manu- 
facture of woollens is carried on here in a small way ; 
and if the inhabitants — who mainly are Tarascan and 
Otomite Indians — ever realize that their town is an im- 
portant railway junction, it is possible that the commer- 
cial fortunes of Acambaro may revive. From the stand- 
point of the picturesque this will not be a desirable 
change. "With its tumble-down one-story adobe houses, 
its pretty, little, neglected plaza, where the Mexican 
eagle sits on a fountain complacently eating his snake, 
and with townsfolk who are content to sun themselves 
and be thankful that sunshine is so cheap and so plen- 
tiful, the town is very satisfactory just as it is. 

The town, in the present State of Guanajuato, w^as 
founded September 19, 1526, by Nicolas Montanes de 
San Luis, Cacique of Xilotepec, an Otomite ally of the 
Spaniards, who also went with Don Fernando de Tapia 
to the conquest of Queretaro. This cacique has left be- 
hind him a most quaint and delightful diary of his mil- 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 487 

itary operations, the temptation to quote at length from 
which is very strong indeed. On the 20th, the day after 
the founding, Don Nicolas and his little army paraded 
with much dignity through what were to be the streets 
of the town ; then they assisted at the celebration of the 
mass in a temporary chapel erected where the parish 
church now stands ; and after the mass the town officers 
were named. 

The convent and church of San Francisco, the latter 
now the parish church, were founded contemporaneously 
with the founding of the town. Both were rebuilt, of 
stone, in 1529 ; and in 1532 the existing church was 
begun. It was completed a few years later, and is one 
of the oldest church buildings in Mexico. Fortunately, 
its interior has not been changed, at least not within the 
past two centuries — and there is about the place a com- 
forting feeling of conservative antiquity. This church 
was sacked during the war of the Independence by the 
revolutionists. Adjoining it is the deserted convent, and 
a hospital of which only the chapel survives. The large 
church-yard is shaded by great trees. In one corner of 
this enclosure stands the unfinished chapel, of handsome 
design and built of well-cut stone, that was begun by 
the then cura, Fray Macedonio Romero, in 1850, as a 
thank-offering for the town's escape from cholera. It 
was to have been dedicated to Nuestra Sefiora del Re- 
fugio — and may be yet, should escape from another pes- 
tilence ever stir up the towns-people to complete it. The 
one other church of importance, Guadalupe, is not es- 
pecially interesting. In the street of AmargTira is a curi- 
ous series of fourteen little chapels, the stations of the 
cross, ending at the chapel of the Soledad on the crest 
of a low hill. 

Good drinking-water is brought to the town by an 



488 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

aquerluct built in the year 1527 by the Franciscan Fray 
Antonio Bermul. Aqambaro, commanding the great 
western highway, is a point of military importance, 
and for this reason has had rather more than its share 
of sieges and assaults. It was here that Hidalgo con- 
centrated his army previous to moving on the City of 
Mexico in 1810. 

Celaya. A city of 18,000 inhabitants, in the State of 
Guanajuato, on the lines of the Mexican Central and 
Mexican National Railways (which here cross), 1,042 
miles south of El Paso and 182 miles north of Mexico. 
A tramway extends from the x'ailway stations (near to- 
gether) to the pretty little main plaza. Fronting upon 
the plaza, about midway in the Portal de Guadalupe, is 
the Hotel Guadalupe, where food and lodging may be 
obtained for $2 a day. A bath will be found at the 
corner of the Calles de la Cruz and San Agustin, near 
the church of San Agustin. The dulces, for which the 
town is famous, may be bought in either of the dulcerias 
in the arcade near the hotel. 

Celaya, built in the broad valley of the Laja, but at a 
distance of more than two miles from the stream, is a 
city of some commercial importance. "Woollen cloth, 
cotton prints, rebosos, soap, and sweetmeats are its prin- 
cipal manufactures. It has a commercial exchange 
(alh6ndiga), and its commerce was sufficient to warrant 
the building of the long and massive causeway that 
crosses the bottom lands of the Laja, and assures a dry 
and safe road in the rainy season. The founders of the 
city were sixteen married men, with their wives and 
families, and seventeen young bachelors ; and with these 
were many Tarascan and Otomite Indians who did dig 
and delve. This company, acting under the orders of 
the then Viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez de Almanza, 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 489 

effected its settlement October 12, 1570. And the 
founders, being for the most part Biscayans, gave to the 
town the name of Zalaya, which word, in the Basque 
tongue, means level land. Eighty-five years later, by a 
royal order given by Philip IV., October 20, 1655 (but 
not published in Mexico until December 7, 1658), Celaya 
was made a city. And the fact that this dignity was 
conferred long before a similar dignity was conferred 
upon Guanajuato is a source of much complacent satis- 
faction to the Celayan chi'oniclers. The jDi'^sent city, 
built upon slightly rolling ground, and not severely rect- 
angular, is attractive in its general features, and in cer- 
tain of its architectural details it is extraordinarily fine. 

All of the architectural beauty of the city is due to a sin- 
gle man : Eduardo Tresguerras — architect, sculj)tor, and 
painter. This remarkable man was born in Celaya, May 
13, 1765, and died there, August 3, 1833. He is buried in 
the chapel (close by the parish church) that he himself 
built for his sepulchre, and dedicated to Nuestra Seiiora 
de los Dolores, to which Virgin he was especially devoted. 
His best painting, probably, is his portrait of his wife, 
that is preserved, as are some of his best sculptures, in 
private hands. His great work, famous throughout Mex- 
ico, is the noble church of Our Lady of Carmen, remark- 
able alike for its size, its grandeur, its beautiful simplicity 
conjoined Avith dignity, its lightness, and its grace. It 
is surmounted by a tower and dome, both renowned for 
their extraordinary hesiutj. The church, in the form of 
a Latin cross, the nave 220 feet long by 55 feet wdde, 
and 69 feet high, was erected (on the site of an earlier 
church destroyed by fire) between the years 1803 and 
1807. It is enriched with some notable frescos by 
Tresguerras. In the chapel of the Last Judgment, in 
addition to his striking frescos, is his painting in oils of 



490 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

Our Lady of Carmen. Here also, representing him at the 
ages of 35 and 63 years, are portraits of this "Michael 
Angelo of Mexico," as Tresguerras is not inaptly called. 
In the church proper, but so hung as to be almost in- 
visible unless the main doors are opened, is a strong 
picture by Nicolas Rodriguez Juarez, painted in 1695, 
and in perfect condition, "The Triumph of Mary." This 
was in the primitive church, and was rescued from the 
fire. 

A very picturesque group of churches and chapels is 
that of which San Francisco is the centre. San Fran- 
cisco was founded about the year 1570. The existing 
church, excepting the fapade and dome, of later con- 
struction, dates from 1715. Its beautiful altars were 
erected early in the present century by Tresguerras. 
The adjacent quaint parish church, and the church of 
the Tercer Orden — in which the altars are by Tresguer- 
ras — both date from early in the seventeenth century, 
and both belonged to the Franciscan establishment. 
Within this group is the chapel of Dolores built by Tres- 
guerras for his burial. The church of San Agustin, a 
block or two away from San Francisco, was founded in 
1603. The existing church dates from 1610. As a 
whole it is not especially impressive, but the tower, built 
by Tresguerras, is strikingly fine. 

Saving an interesting market, a theatre, and some few 
public buildings, there is very little to be seen in Celaya 
but its churches. But anyone with a love for the beau- 
tiful will find in the church of the Carmen alone a suf- 
ficient reward for the inconveniences which a pilgrimage 
thither involves. 

Chihuahua. A city of 12,000 inhabitants, capital of 
the State of the same name, on the line of the Mexican 
Central Railway, 225 miles south of El Paso ; 1,000 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 491 

miles iiortli of the City of Mexico. A tramway from the 
station passes the door of the least undesirable hotel ; 
fare, 6^ cents. An omnibus also plies between the sta- 
tion and the hotels ; fare, two reales ; charge for trunks, 
two reales each. (Attempts on the part of the drivers to 
exceed these charges should be resisted.) Carriages may 
be hired at the station for four reales for one or two peo- 
ple for the trip to either of the hotels. The hotels are 
not satisfactory. The least objectionable are the Casa 
Eobinson and Smith's. Bate at either, $2.50 a day. 
There are good new baths at the end of the old ijaseo. 

It is not worth the while of travellers going farther 
south to stop at Chihuahua at all. The city is so overrun 
by Americans, of the frontier type, that it has ceased to 
be a representative Mexican town. The market, set off 
in departments, is interesting — but not so interesting as 
many other Mexican markets ; the old paseo is neglected 
and shabby, while the new paseo has no especial indi- 
viduality. The one strong feature of the city is the very 
handsome parish church (sometimes styled, incorrectly, a 
cathedral) dedicated to San Francisco. This fine building- 
was erected between the years 1717 and 1789, with the 
proceeds of a tax of one real on the half-pound of silver 
(producing, it is believed, the sum of $800,000) that was 
levied upon the product of the celebrated Santa Eulalia 
mine. The building is rather unusually high for its 
width, as is the case also with its towers, giving an ef- 
fect of lightness and grace not often seen in Spanish- 
American architecture. It is admirably placed, so that 
from almost any point outside of the town its slender 
towers are seen rising against a background of low- 
lying hills and blue sky. UiDon its richly ornamented 
fa9ade are thirteen statues — San Francisco and the Twelve 
Apostles. In the recesses of the sui^portiug arches of 



492 MEXICAJN^ GUIDE. 

the dome are basso-relievos of the Fathers of the Church. 
In one of the towers may be seen a bell that was broken 
by a cannon-ball during the bombardment of the city by 
the French in 1866. Tradition tells that an inclined 
plane of earth was raised against the towers as they 
were built, up which was carried the material used in 
construction ; and that this plane extended across the 
whole width of the plaza ere the work was done. The 
Church of the Compania, a Jesuit foundation built under 
the patronage of Don Manuel de Santa Cruz in the year 
1717 ; the Oratorio de San Felipe Neri, and the Santu- 
ario de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, also may be vis- 
ited. In the last-named, at the end of the alameda, is a 
notable figure of San Ignacio Loyola. Other objects of 
interest are : The Mint, formerly the Hospital Real, in 
one of the tower rooms of which Hidalgo, Allen de, Al- 
dama, and Jimenez were confined during the time -pie- 
ceding their execution ; the monument that marks the 
spot where these patriots were shot, July 31, 1811 ; the 
aqueduct, three and a half miles long, running for a con- 
siderable portion of this distance upon low stone arches, 
built in the latter part of the last century. An interest- 
ing expedition, requiring a full day, may be made to 
the Santa Eulalia mine. Permission to visit the mine 
usually can be obtained at the city office of the superin- 
tendent. 

Chihuahua (meaning "the place where things are 
made"), anciently Taraumara, and later San Felipe el 
Real, was founded by Diego de Ibarra in the year 1539. 
It stands in the midst of a desolate, mountain-girdled 
plain ; is built for the most part of adobe, and, in com- 
mon with adobe-built towns, is picturesque rather than 
impressive. In former times this city was the seat of 
the considerable trade that was carried on between 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 493 

Northern Mexico and the United States. Annual cara- 
vans passed between this point and Santa F6, where an 
exchange of commodities was effected with the American 
traders, whose caravans came southwestward over the 
Santa Fe trail. After fighting the battles of Bracito and 
Sacramento, Colonel Doniphan's command occupied 
Chihuahua early in 1847 ; and thence made the memo- 
rable march southward to a successful junction with the 
forces of General Taylor. 

Cordoba. A town of about 6,000 inhabitants, in the 
State of Vera Cruz, on the line of the Mexican Bailway, 
66 miles from Vera Cruz and 197 miles from the City of 
Mexico, at an elevation of 2,710 feet above the level of 
the sea. A tramway extends from the station to the 
town, a distance of about a mile ; fare, 6^ cents. Barely 
tolerable food and lodging will be found at the little 
hotel. Bates, $2 a day. 

Cordoba was founded by order (April 18, 1618) of the 
Viceroy Don Diego Fernandez de Cordoba, as a refuge 
station on the road from Vera Cruz to the capital. It 
was built upon the little hill of Xitango, in the fertile 
valley of the Bio Seco, and presently, as the centre of 
a rich agricultural region, became an important town. 
Sugar-cane was grown ; sugar-houses and distilleries 
were established ; tobacco was gTown as early as 1756 ; 
a little later Juan Antonio Gomez introduced coffee and 
the Manila mango ; and within the present century 
plantations of cinchona have been set out. Natural 
products of the place are bananas, oranges, g*uavas, pine- 
ajDples, granaditas, chirimoj'as, and other tropical fruits. 
Since the year 1812, when the first decree emancipating- 
slaves was promulgated in Mexico, the material prosperity 
of the town steadily has declined. But this very decline 
has increased its charming picturesqueness. Its rich lux- 



494 MEXIOAl^ on IDE. 

uriance of tropical vegetation, its impressive mountain 
scenerj'', and its air of cheerful content v^ith. its condi- 
tion of lost prosperity, combine to make it one of the 
most attractive little towns in Mexico. Happily, there 
is not much to be done here in the way of regular sight- 
seeing. The church of San Antonio, founded by the 
Franciscans in 1686, the existing building completed in 
1725 ; the convent, hospital, and church of San Hipolito, 
founded in 1793 ; the dilapidated and uninteresting 
house on the plaza in which Maximilian passed a night 
on his wa}'' inland from Vera Cruz ; the little theatre ; 
the market — the great market-day is Sunda^^, before 
noon — in which may be seen the Indian women from 
Amatlan, wearing coral and silver ornaments and a thor- 
oughly Neapolitan head-dress — these are the sights of 
Cordoba. Any citizen of Cordoba will be glad to have 
a chance to mention the fact that here, August 24, 1821, 
was concluded the treaty, between General Yturbide 
and the Viceroy O'Donoju, that recognized the inde- 
pendence of Mexico. It is not probable that the citizen 
will add that in the damp, hot summers ague is com- 
mon here, and that yellow fever occasionally appears ; 
nor will it be courteous for the traveller to touch upon 
these unpleasant matters. It is well to keep them in 
mind, however, and not visit Cordoba later than the 
month of March. 

Cuautla. A city of 11,000 inhabitants, in the State 
of Morelos, on the line of the Interoceanic Railway, 85 
miles southeast of the City of Mexico, at an elevation of 
3,500 feet above the level of the sea. The Gran Hotel 
de San Diego is just across the plaza from the railway 
station. Trunks may be sent across by cargadores for a 
real each ; bags for a medio each. The rates at the hotel, 
from $2.50 a day upward, are high ; but the food is un- 



MINOr^ CITIES AND TOWNS. 495 

usufilly good, and the rooms, for a provincial hotel in 
Mexico, unusually comfortable. Very fair wines may be 
bought, but at extortionately high prices. There are 
fair baths in the city, and very good sulphur-baths a 
little east of the town, near the river. 

There is very little to see in Cuautla in the way of 
old buildings. The parish church, dedicated to San- 
tiago, a foundation of 1605, is quaint and interesting. 
The church and convent of San Diego, also a seventeenth 
century foundation, now are used as the railway freight 
and passenger stations. From the roof of the church a 
very fine ^dew is had of the canefields and mountains 
beyond. An expedition may be made to the sugar 
Hacienda de Sta. Ines, a few miles away on the line of 
the railroad ; for w^hich a platform car, with a horse to 
draw it, may be hired at the railway station. A still 
finer hacienda near by is Coahuixtla, which may be 
visited on horseback. The Spanish-built ^Dortion of the 
town is rectangular and commonplace. The great charm 
of Cuautla is its tropical luxuriance and picturesqueness. 
The straight, unattractive streets need be followed but a 
little way to come into lanes, hedged with banana- and 
orange-trees, that go rambling away among gardens^ 
and along which, half hid among the dense foliage, are 
scattered Indian huts. Everywhere is running water. 
East of the town is the river Xuchitengo, the nearly 
dry course of which, though dry only in the dry season, 
is spanned by a massive stone bridge, from wdiich there 
is a view of the broad valley and the hills beyond, and 
the gTeat peak of Popocatepetl towering in the north. 
Seen from this, the southern side, the snowcap is only 
a triangular tuft on the western slope. 

Cuautla was conquered by Cortes, and was included 
in his original grant of lands. Subsequently it reverted 



496 'MEXICAN GUIDE. 

to the crown. Its founding as a Spanisli town dates 
from tlie establishment here of the Dominican mission 
in 1605. The town officially is styled Cuautla Morelos, 
in memory of its heroic defence by the patriot Morelos 
during the war of the Independence. The Royalist 
general, Calleja, attacked the town February 19, 1812, 
and was repulsed. He then besieged it in form. The 
siege lasted for more than two months and a half, and 
while neither force would risk an attack numerous 
skirmishes occurred during this period. Morelos sought 
to hold the town until the beginning of the rainy season, 
when the hot, wet weather certainly would bring sick- 
ness among the unacclimated troops from the highlands. 
But famine frustrated this plan. So short of food did 
the garrison become that a cat sold for six dollars, a 
lizard for two dollars, and rats for a dollar apiece. 
Unable to hold out, Morelos successfully evacuated the 
town. This heroic defence and successful retreat — 
leading to a series of brilliant assaults elsewhere by the 
little army that Morelos commanded — did much to in- 
spirit the patriot cause. 

Yau tepee. From Cuautla the excursion may be con- 
tinued to Yautepec, fourteen miles farther south and the 
present terminus of the railroad. In this deUghtful little 
town all the picturesque features of Cuautla are repeat- 
ed, and are increased by advantages of situation which 
Cuautla does not possess. From this point horses may 
be taken to Cuernavaca (a ride of about five hours), and 
the return thence to Mexico made via diligencia. 

Guaymas. Atow^n of about 4,000 inhabitants, on the 
coast (Gulf of California) of Sonora ; the tide-water ter- 
minus of the Sonora Railway. There are two small 
hotels here — the Cosmopolitan and Central, of which the 
former is the more desirable. The rate at either is $2 a 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 497 

day. The food is of the country, but the traveller at 
least is sure of good oysters — for which the town is fa- 
mous. 

In common with the other towns of the west coast, 
Guaymas is built upon the shores of a land-locked bay 
surrounded by high hills — a veritable frying-pan in sum- 
mer, but in the winter dry and pleasantly warm. The 
town is long and narrow, and is built for the most part 
of adobe ; a few houses are of brick and stone. Owing 
to its picturesque situation, and the picturesque charac- 
ter of a part of the country traversed by rail in reaching 
it, Guaymas is very well worth visiting. A still stronger 
attraction that it holds out is that from this point (see 
Coastwise Steam Lines) steamers ply regularly to La 
Paz, Mazatlan, San Bias, and Manzanillo ; thus affording 
an opportunity for an easily made expedition to these 
very interesting old ports, and along the beautiful west 
coast. This is not a trip to be made by persons in deli- 
cate health, for various inconveniences and some few pri- 
vations are encountered by the way ; but sturdy trav- 
ellers, with a Uking for the quaint and a love for the 
beautiful, will reckon the gain in these aesthetic direc- 
tions as outweighing the loss of personal comfort. 

Lagos. A city of 22,000 inhabitants, in the State of 
Jalisco, on the line of the Mexican Central Railway, 929 
miles from El Paso and 295 miles from the City of Mex- 
ico, at an elevation of 6,100 feet above the level of the 
sea. A tramway extends from the railway station into 
the city (fare, 6^ cents). A diligence meets trains and 
takes passengers, with ordinary luggage, to the Hotel 
de Diligeucias free. At this hotel " Don Pedro," father 
of the proprietor, and himself proprietor emeritus, pre- 
sides jollily over excellent fare. The rate is $2 a clay. 

The importance of this city lies in its being the point of 
33 



498 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

departure for the diligeucias (see Diligence Lines, p. 369) 
for Guadalajara and San Luis Potosi. There is a pretty 
little plaza, where the band plays of evenings ; and on 
this plaza, elevated upon a terrace, is the handsome 
church of San Francisco — especially notable for its mo- 
saic wooden floor. Other churches which may be vis- 
ited are the Parr6quia and the Merced. 

Maravatfo. A town of 5,000 inhabitants, in the State 
of Michoacan, on the line of the Mexican National Rail- 
way, 138 miles from the City of Mexico. At the Httle 
Hotel de Diligencias rather remarkably hard beds and 
eatable food can be had for |2 a day. The town has a 
lake on one side of it and a sandy hill on the other, 
anei so contrives to be both dusty and damp. Fevers 
are common, with diseases of a bilious type. In 1850 
the town was ravaged by cholera. 

Despite these drawbacks, this is an attractive little 
place. There is a pretty main plaza ; two other plazas in 
the suburbs of San Nicolas and San Miguel ; fountains 
afford a good supply of water ; several of the churches are 
interesting, and the general effect of the irregularly built 
houses, with red-tiled roofs, is eminently picturesque. 
The parish church, dedicated to San Juan Bautista, a 
Franciscan foundation, is a large, cruciform, heavily 
built structure in which there are some interesting carved 
altars. Other churches worth visiting are the Columna, 
Nuestro Senor de los Herreros (Our Lord of the Black- 
smiths), the Hospital, San Nicolas, and San Miguel — 
these last in the suburbs of the same names. The bridge 
that here crosses a tributary of the Lerraa was built in 
the early part of the present century by the diligence 
company. 

The primitive town, the little remnant of which is 
known as Maravatlo el Alto, was about fifteen miles 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 499 

south of the present site, and was a Tarascan foundation — 
the eastern outpost of the dominion of Michoacan. Here 
the Spanish town was founded in 1535. In 1540 the 
land where the town now is was granted to the Viceroy 
Mendoza, and in 1541 the existing foundation was made. 
The oldest house in the town, dating from 1573, stands 
on a line with the grave-yard of the parish church. Pigs 
and sheep are raised hereabout in large numbers. The 
shoes made in Maravatio are celebrated for their ex- 
cellence. 

Merida. Capital of the State of Yucatan, a city of 
30,000 inhabitants, reached by rail from the port of Pro- 
greso. Wind and weather favoring, and time permitting, 
it sometimes is possible to visit this city while the steamer 
is discharging and taking in cargo. The railway has been 
built to accommodate the large and rapidly growing trade 
in henequin fibre, of which Merida is the centre. The 
distance by rail is about 30 miles ; the running time 
about two hours ; the fare $1. In Merida there is a lit- 
tle hotel, the Bazar, at which a fair Mexican meal can be 
had for six reales. There are very delightful baths. 
Three Hnes of railway extend for short distances into the 
interior. 

A leisurely traveller, with a tendency toward antiqua- 
rian research, will do well to stop over a steamer at 
Merida and make a trip of exploration to the ruins of 
Uxmal, sixty miles distant to the south. 

Merida was founded about the year 1542, after the 
conquest of Yucatan by the Montejos, father and son — 
the latter succeeding to the command of the forces em- 
ployed in this war of conquest that began in 1526. The 
more interesting buildings of the present city are its 
churches. The existing cathedral, succeeding a still ear- 
lier one, was completed in the year 1598, at a cost of 



500 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

$300,000. Thefa9ade is ornamented by statues of Saint 
Peter and Saint Paul (the finely sculptured royal arms 
were covered with plaster in 1822), and is surmounted by 
a balustrade guarding a footway between the two towers. 
In the southern tower is a clock, made in London in 1731. 
The vaulted, carved roof is supported upon sixteen very 
massive columns, which divide the nave from the aisles ; 
and above it rises a fine dome, also carved. The existing 
high altar, completed in 1762, is of wood, richly carved 
and gilded, and was surmounted originally by the royal 
arms ; a tabernacle, erected a few years ago, although 
fine in itself, obscures the earlier work, and does not at 
all harmonize with it. From the chancel a passage-way 
leads to the curious circular choir in the body of the 
building, in which there are some good wood-carviugs. 
Four handsome chapels and the sacristy are worthy of 
notice. Even in Merida many persons believe that the 
church of San Juan de Dios was the primitive cathedral ; 
this mistake arisino: from the fact that in the interval be- 
tween the destruction of the first and the completion of 
the existing cathedral this church was used as the cathe- 
dral of the diocese. San Juan de Dios is a very ancient 
foundation. The existing church, with its adjacent hos- 
pital and monastery, was completed in the year 1625. 
The monastery and hospital are extinct, and the church 
has fallen into decay. The ex-Seminario de San Pedro, 
founded in 1711, is now used by the Legislature, and as 
a theatre. San Juan Bautista i s a miracle-working church, 
or was in its early years. Very soon after the foundation 
of the city a plague of locusts came upon the land, and 
as a means of staying this plague — there being some un- 
certainty as to which saint had jurisdiction in the prem- 
ises — lots were cast to find from what quarter aid should 
be asked : and the lot fell upon Saint John the Baptist. 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 501 

Thereupon a mass was said to this saint, and the locusts 
disappeared. Then the church was erected, and for a 
lono" while the fields were safe. But the church was 
neglected as time went on, until the year 1618, when, 
on the eve of St. John, the locusts once more appeared, 
and in such quantities as never before were known. A 
vow then was made by the Governor and the Bishop to 
attend each year at a mass to be said in the church on 
the festival of St. John ; and since that time the locusts 
have been held in check. The church was rebuilt in the 
year 1771. Other notable churches are the Compania 
de Jesus, the Candelaria, San Francisco, and Santa Lucia. 

Salt i Mo. Capital of the State of Coahuila, a city of 
10,000 inhabitants, at the present southern end of the 
northern division of the Mexican National Railway, 231 
miles from Laredo, at an elevation of 5,200 feet above 
the level of the sea. Carriages may be hired at the rail- 
way station for four reales, for four persons or less. 
Trunks will be carried for two reales each. The Hotel 
San Esteban, or Diligencias, in the old convent adjoining 
the church of San Esteban, is a very picturesque j^lace, 
and also is clean and comfortable. The rate is f 2 and 
$2.50 a day. Travellers will do well to ask for Parras 
wine — a sound and wholesome native wine, red and 
white, very like some of the coarser grades of Hungarian 
wines. At the boarding house kept by Dr. Chess (the 
food rather better than at the hotels) the rate is f 1.50 a 
day. (For Diligence Lines, see p. 367.) 

The city lies close to the northeastern edge of the 
plateau, and its peculiarly agreeable summer climate 
causes it to be much resorted to during the hot months 
by the dwellers upon the hot lands below it to the east. 
It is especially famous for its manufacture of zarapes ; 
there are cotton-mills in the neighborhood, and a con- 



502 MEXICAlSr GUIDE. 

siclerable business is done in goat- and sheep-skins. 
There is a pretty central plaza, and a charming alameda. 
On a hill near the city is a fort built during the French 
occupation, Saltillo was founded in 1586, but was not 
made a city until 1827 — at which time was added to its 
name that of the revolutionary heroine Leon a Vicario. 

Salvatierra. A city of 10,000 inhabitants, in the 
State of Guanajuato, on the line of the Mexican National 
Railway, 197 miles from the City of Mexico. The most 
desirable one of the three small hotels is the Diligen- 
cias — $2 a day. In former times the town was a small 
trading centre. Its only importance in a business way 
now is due to the large woollen factory established by 
Don Patricio Valencia. There are several churches 
worth visiting. The largest and handsomest is the par- 
ish church dedicated to Nuestra Senora de las Luces, 
built in the early years of the present century after de- 
signs by Tresguerras. It has a peculiarly fine tov/er. A 
fine stone bridge across the Lerma dates from a few 
years after the city's foundation. 

Salvatierra was founded in the year 1643, in lands be- 
longing to Don Andres Alderete and his wife, who re- 
ceived in return for their gift of a site an annual allow- 
ance of $2,000 from the royal treasury. They further 
stipulated that their foundation should be granted a 
charter as a city, and that it should be named Salva- 
tierra in honor of the then viceroy. All of which stipu- 
lations were accorded in the royal order that issued in the 
year 1643. The city has been very hardly dealt with 
during the civil wars — as, indeed, has this whole region 
of the Bajio in which it stands. 

Silao. A citj of 15,000 inhabitants, in the State of 
Guanajuato, on the line of the Mexican Central Railway, 
986 miles south of El Paso and 238 miles north of the 



MINOU CITIES AND TOWNS. 503 

City of Mexico. Reasonably comfortable and clean 
rooms can be had at the hotel at the railway station for 
six reales a day. Meals can be had in the railway 
restaurant for one dollar ; or, rather better, at the little 
French restaurant just across the way for six reales. 
Coffee and bread at the railway restaurant costs two 
reales ; at the French restaurant one real. This is the 
point of departure of the branch line, fifteen miles long, 
to Marfil. (See Guanajuato.) 

The city now is of little commercial importance — al- 
though there are a few flour-mills here — but is decidedly 
picturesque. The parish church, dedicated to Santiago, 
was begun near the end of the seventeenth century and 
was finished in 1728. Its cuiious and beautiful wooden 
altars were replaced by the existing abominations in 
1835. The most notable feature of the church is its 
slender, graceful spire. The church of the Senor de la 
Vera Cruz was built at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century, to house a Santo Cristo given in the port of Vera 
Cruz to certain Indians of Silao by Spanish missionaries. 
The figure is of ^^^.pier mache or some kindred material, 
and tradition declares that it dates from before the 
Moorish conquest of Spain. Other churches which may 
be visited are the Santuario del Padre Jesus, built in 
1798 and repaired in 1841 ; and the church of San Nico- 
las, sadly modernized in 1832. Silao was founded by 
Don Francisco Cervantes Bendon about the year 1553. 
It was made a town in 1833, and in 1861 a city. 

Toluca. Capital of the State of Mexico, a city of 
16,000 inhabitants, on the line of the Mexican National 
Railway, 45 miles from the City of Mexico, at an eleva- 
tion of 8,600 feet above the level of the sea 

A tramway leads from the railway station, through the 
Calle de la Independencia — past a statue of Hidalgo with 



504 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

curiously twisted legs — to the pretty little Plaza Mayor. 
Fare, 6^ cents. There are two hotels here — the Leon 
de Oro and the Gran Sociedad, neither very good. The 
rate at each is $2 a day ; single meals, six reales. Ex- 
cellent beer can be bought here for one real a bottle. 
There are good baths near the hotels. 

The magnificent scenery on the way hither is the 
single and sufficient reason for coming up by the after- 
noon train — at which time are the best effects of light 
and shade — and returning on the ensuing morning to the 
City of Mexico. Even in the case of travellers who intend 
going to Morelia and Patzcuaro, it is quite worth while 
either to start in the afternoon and continue the journey 
from Toluca on the ensuing morning, or to make the 
shorter expedition independently of the longer one — so 
exceedingly beautiful is the afternoon view. 

Toluca has an air of newness and prosperity that is 
uncommon in Mexico, and that, while no doubt pleasant 
to the townsfolk, is not at all to the liking of travellers 
in search of the picturesque. Yet, in point of fact, this 
is one of the oldest Spanish settlements in Mexico. The 
site was included in the grant of the Emperor Charles 
V. to the Marques del Yalle de Oaxaca, otherwise Cortes, 
and a settlement was made here before 1533. A few years 
later Toluca was made a town, and in 1677 it was made a 
city. The capital of the State of Mexico was removed 
hither in 1831. The State buildings, fronting on the 
trim Plaza Mayor, with its monument, were erected in 
1872, upon the site of the house formerly occupied by 
Don Martin Cortes, son of the Conqueror. They are 
the finest buildings of this sort in the Republic. In the 
audience-room are preserved portraits of the governors 
of the State of Mexico. The Palace of Justice is in tlie 
building, partly rebuilt in 1871, of the convent of San 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 505 

Juan de Dios. There is a bandsome theatre, the Prin- 
cipal, another theatre, Gorostiza, and a bull-ring. In 
the suburbs is a pretty alameda — refreshing^ uncared 
for — near which is the church of the Santa Vera Cruz, 
with a fa9ade decorated with colored figures of saints, 
presenting an appearance much less devout than gro- 
tesque. 

The parish church is the chapel of the Tercer Orden, 
pertaining to the former Franciscan establishment. 
The site for the Franciscan church and convent was 
given by the Matlalzinca chief whose Christian name was 
Juan Cortes. The piimitive church, probably a slight 
building of wood, was replaced in 1585 by a larger 
structui^e of stone, and this, in turn, in the seventeenth 
century, by the church of which the large chapel of the 
Tercer Orden was a part. The church was razed in 
1874, and upon its site a magnificent temple is in 
course of erection. Its completion bids fair to be in the 
very remote future, for in twelve years the massive walls 
have not been raised twelve feet. The existing parish 
church includes a portion of the church built in 1585. 
In a passage leading to it from a side street — a passage 
quite at variance with the present plan — may be seen an 
old arch, upon which is inscribed : " This gallery has not 
been straightened, to the end that this arch, and the two 
at the end of the sacristy, may be preserved ; these be- 
ing parts of the first Catholic temple that ever was in 
Toluca." The front of the church is carried up in an 
open gable — in the nature of an exaggerated Carmelite 
bell-gable — that is both curious and effective. The in- 
terior of the building is almost the only thing in Toluca 
that is not exasperatingly new. One other gratifyingly 
ancient article is to be seen in a side chapel (that was the 
primitive church) of Nuestra Senora del Carmen. This is 



506 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

a very curious little portable organ of Mexican manufact- 
ure — possibly the first organ made in America. In the 
same chapel is a very fine "Virgin and dead Christ." 

A little more than two miles west of the city is the 
church of Nuestra Senora de Tecajic, in which is pre- 
served a miraculous and miracle-working image, much 
venerated by the Indians — a picture, painted on coarse 
cotton-cloth, representing the Assumj)tion of the Virgin. 
This shrine has been in existence for more than two cen- 
turies. 

Near the city is the extinct volcano of the Nevado, 
known also by the primitive name of Xinantecatl. In 
the crater is now a lake, in the centre of which is a 
whirlpool. From the crest of this mountain — the ascent 
is comparatively easy — is a magnificent view. 

Within a few leagues of Toluca grows the curious 
arhol de las iiianitas — " the tree of the little hands," so 
called because of the shape of its flower. 

Tula. A town of 1,500 inhabitants, in the State of 
Hidalgo, on the line of the Mexican Central Railway, 50 
miles (two hours and a half) from the City of Mexico. 
By taking the early morning train out, and the late after- 
noon train in, the traveller will have six or seven hours 
for sight-seeing. There is a little hotel, the Diligencias, 
in the town, at which an eatable meal can be obtained 
for four reales. It should be ordered, for the hour de- 
sired, immediately upon aiTiviug. 

Tula, anciently ToUan (meaning " the place of reeds," 
or, possibly, " the place of many people "), is believed to 
have been a Toltec foundation, and was an important 
Otomite town at the time of the Conquest. It was one 
of the first of the outlying towns to embrace Christianity, 
and its people were stanch allies of the Spaniards in ex- 
tending their conquests. The special points of interest 



MINOR CITIES AND TOWNS. 507 

here are Toltec remains and the very curious ancient 
church. 

At the Hotel de Dihgencias a guide may be obtained 
to the i-uined town. Cosme Luque, who worked under 
Charnay, will be the best guide for persons speaking 
Spanish. The way to the ruins lies along the road, 
shaded by gTeat ash-trees, that leads to Ixmiquilpan, or 
the Cardonal ; thence across the river Tula, and up the 
Cerro del Tesoro, w^here the pueblo examined by Char- 
nay will be seen. The^ building is of uncut stone, laid 
in mud, and covered with a hai'd cement. The floors 
are coated with this same cement, of a ruddy tint. The 
largest room in the building is only about twelve or 
fifteen feet square. At the other extremity of the hill is 
another pueblo, larger than the first, and usually called 
the casa grande, or " great house." In this there are 
about thirty small rooms, built at difierent levels and 
connected by stairways. In the plaza of Tula are some 
interesting prehistoric rehcs, the more notable being a 
portion of a column and the lower half of a colossal 
statue. The baptismal font in the church is a remnant 
of Toltec work ; as is also an inscribed stone near the 
chui'ch-door. Many of the houses in the town have set 
into theu' walls carved stones from the TxmiQdi pueblos. 

A church was built in Tula within a year or two after 
the Conquest. The existing church, a Franciscan foun- 
dation, dedicated to San Jose, was begun by Fray Alonzo 
Rangel in the year 1553, and was completed by Fray 
Antonio de San Juan in the year 1561. It is built of a 
light-colored stone, and such is its massive appearance 
and great solidity — the walls are nearly seven feet thick 
— that it seems less like a church than a fortress. It was, 
indeed, primitively intended to be used both as a church 
and as a place of refuge from the assaults of the Chiche- 



508 MEXICAN GUIDE. 

mec Indians ; a fact that accounts for its battlemented 
roof and the heavy wall surrounding it. The building 
is 192 feet long by 41 feet wide, and 82 feet high. The 
single tower is 125 feet high. The character of the stone- 
work is exceptionally good. Two relatively modern 
cbapels have been added to the original structure. The 
church contains a number of pictures which, less because 
of their artistic quality than because of their great age 
and quaint crudity, are exceedingly interesting. In the 
archives are preserved many manuscripts in the Mexi- 
can tongue. The convent, finished in 1585, is much 
decayed. In the cloister, now used as a military stable, 
still may be seen pictures illustrating the life of San 
Francisco. To this convent, in its early years, was at- 
tached the eminent Fray Alonzo Urbana [obit Septem- 
ber 19, 1592), a most notable master of the Otomite and 
Nahuatl tongues. The atrium, surrounding both church 
and convent, is terraced above the present street, and is 
surrounded by a massive stone wall. 



INDEX. 



Academy, Military, 303 

San Carlos, 147 
Acambaro, 4S5 
Acapulco, steamer to, 368 
Acatlan, Sta. Cruz, 177 
Aculco, battle, 56 
Adobe, picture on, 244 
Aduana, 142 
Aeronaut Acosta, 417 
Agricultural School, 252 
Aguas Calientes, 4U9 
Agustin, San, 144, 205 

fire in, 176 
Agustin, S. de las Cuevas, 311 
Ahiutzotl, monuraent, 301 
Ajusco, height, 6 
Alameda, 48, 51, 277 
Alamo, massacre, 62 
Albuquerque, founding, 49 
Aldama, execution, 56, 492 

head, 418 

patriot, 55 

tomb, 169 
Alhdndiga de Granaditas, 418 
Aliens, rights, 7, 16 
AUende, born, 454 

execution, 56, 492 

head, 418 

patriot, 55 

portrait, 141 

tomb, 169 
Alien de, S. Miguel de, 450 
Altamirano, Ignacio, 39 
Altata, steamer to, 368 
Altitudes, cities, 4 

mountains, 6 
Alvarado, armor, 164 

leap, 290 
Alvarado, town, 432 
Alvarez, hospital founded, 256 
Alum, 9 
Amatlan, 494 



Ambassadors, Hall of, 141 
Amecameca, 479 
American Cemetery, 289 

Hospital, 263 

Minister, 123 
Ana, Sta., Ch., 183 
Analcos vein, 441 
Andocutin, hacienda, 328 
Andres, San, hospital, 261 
Angeles, Los, ch. City of Mexico, 

244 
Angeles, Nstra. Sra. de, 244 
Angel, San, town, 305 
Angostura, battle, 64 
Angostura garden, 436 
Animals, domestic, 7 

wild, 7 
Animas, Capilla de las, 170 
Anna, Santa, see Santa Anna. 
Antonio Abad, S., 217 
Antonio de las Huertas, S., 178 
Apam, 337 

plain of, 6 
Aparicio, Sebastian de, 385 

bones of, 382 
Apostles of Mexico, 21 
Aqueduct, Los Remedios, 447 

Morelia, 457 

Queretaro, 422 

Zempoala, 363 
Aqueducts, 51, 282 
Aranzazu, Nstra. Sra. de, 195 

picture of, 386 
Araro, 359 
Arbeu, theatre, 271 
Arbol de las Manitas, 506 
Archbishopric of Mexico, 21 
Archbishops, portraits, 170 
Arch, flat, 384 
Archiepiscopal palace, 142 
Architect, Tresguerras, 489 
Archives, national, 147 



510 



INDEX. 



Arista, portrait, 141 
Army, 18 
Arrest, 15 
Artesian weUs, 282 
Artists, 148 
Artist, Orizaba, 439 

woman, 148, 169 
Arts, fine, 147 
Arzobispado, 142 
A silo de Mendigos, 269 
Asphalt, 9 

Assembly of Notables, 69 
Asylum, foundling, 263 
Afcarazanas, 135 
Atotonilco, banner, 55 

going to, 451 

shrine, 454 
Atzcapotzalco, 313 

tramway to, 122 
Audencia, 46, 469 
Augustinians, 205 
Authors, 35 
Auto de f e, 20, 137 
Ayuntaroiento, 137 

Baggage, Cit. Mex., 102 

extra, 96, 333, 344, 352, 362 
Bajio, El, 6, 348 
Bala, Nstra. Sra. de la, 242 
Balcones, Los, 464 
Ball, Our Lady of the, 242 
Balvanera, La, 823 
Bandelier, books by, 156, 163 
Bank notes, 80 
Banner of the Conquest, 208 

Independence, 454 
Baptists, 33 

Barranca del Infiernillo, 336 
Barranco, Gabriel, 439 
Basket for trunk, 98 
Baskets, Puebla, 373 
Bath, Montezuma's, 335 
Baths, 90 

Cit. Mex., 107 

Coincho, 462 
Bazaine, house, 288 

traitor, 71 
Beaterio, definition, 453 
Beer, 88 
Beggars, 94 

Belen de los Padres, 212 
Belen, prison, 139 
Bells, Hill of the, 425, 427 
Belt railway, 362 
Beneficencia, La, 253 



Benevolent Society, 253 
Bergantines, 324 
Bernardo, San, 235 
Betlemitas, library, 147 

order, 219 

school, 219 
Biblioteca Nacional, 144 
Bishop Quiroga, 469 

Zumarraga, 21 
Bishopric of Mexico, 21 

Yucatan, 21 
Bishoprics, 22 
Bishops' portraits, Puebla, 382 

sepulchre of, 381 
BUnd, school, 269 
Boarding-houses, 106 
Boats, Vera Cruz, 429 
Boca del Monte, 336 
Bolson de Mapimi, 6, 345 
Bone-work, 464 
Bonitas, Las, 239 
Bonnets, 109 
Book, first printed, 46 

stores, 110 
Books, old, 139 
Borrego, Cerro de, 437 
Eorda, Jardin de la, 477 
Borde, Joseph de la, 477 
Bracito, battle, 493 
Bread of Ozumba, 364 
Breakfast, Mexican, 105 
Bric-a-brac, 266 
Bridge, National, 54 
" Brigan tines," 324 
Brigida, Santa, 237 
Bucareli, tomb of, 51 

paseo, 279 

viceroy, 51 
Buena Vista, battle, 64 
Bufa, Cerro de la, 405 
BuflFalo, Bishop of, 419 
Buildings notable, 286 
Bull-fighting, 271 

Puebla, 373 
Bull-ring, Morelia, 458 
Burning to death, 469 
Bustamante, 353 
Butter, 109 

Cabinet officers, 17, 123 
Cabrera, 151 
Cacahuamilpa, caves, 479 
Calderon, battle, 56 
Calendar Stone, 156 
California annexed, 64 



INDEX. 



511 



California, expedition to, 48 
Calle de los Muertos, d2'6 
Callcs, Cit. Mex.,1-^ 
Calzada de Guadalupe, 457 

Nueva, 287 
Calzadas, Cit. Mex., 126, 280 
Calzontzin Sizincha, 457, 468 
Camara de Diputados, 141 
Camarin, Amecameca, 480 

Guadalupe, 408 

Los Remedies, 447, 449 

Ocotlan, 403 

Pueblito, 429 
Camilo, San, 221 
Camilists, 231 

Campanas, Cerro de las, 425, 427 
Canal, family, 452 
Canal, Viga, 317 
CaTion Cathedral, 357 

Laja, 358 

Tultenango, 357 

Zopilotes, 357 
Cantabraua. Domingo de, 181 
Capuchinas, 236 

Guadalupe, 298 
Cardonal, Santo Cristo de, 233 
Cargadores (porters), 90 
Caridad, La, 240 

Carlotta, hospital founded by, 262 
Carmen, Xstra. Sra. del, 214 

at Celaya, 489 
Carmelites, 214 
Carmen, town, steamer to, 368 
Cartographical Institute, 434 
Carvings, prehistoric, 478 
Casa de Azulejos, 288 

Lore to, 452 

los Mascarones, 287 

Maternidad, 262 

Moneda, 142 

Grande, Tula, 507 

Mata, 303 

skirmish, 64 
Casas, Bartolome' de las, 47 
Casas de huespedes, 106 
Castaefida, La, 305 

tramway to, 119, 130 
Catalina de Sena, Sta., 226 
Catarina Martir, Sta., 183 
Cathedral canon, 357 

City of Mexico, 165 

Puebla, 379 
Cats for food, 496 
Cattle range, 353 
Causeways, 380 



Cavalry, 18 

Cave at Amecameca, 480 

Cacahuamilpa, 479 

Pesqueria (Garcia), 474 
Cazadero, El, 348 
Celaya, 488 
Cemeteries, 289 
Central Railway, 351 
Cerro Gordo, 340 

del Borrego, 335, 437 

del Loreto, 376 

de Montezuma, 451 

de Quinceo, 359 

del Sefior, 356 
Chac-Mool, 163 
Chamber of Deputies, 141 
Chamela, steamer to, 368 
Champoton, steamer to, 368 
Chapultepec, 300 

storming, 64, 303 
Chapala, Lake, 7 
Charities, 254 

minor, 268 

Puebla, 378 
Charity, Brothers of, 257 

Sisters of, 239 
Charles IV., statue, 375, 283 
Charles V., portrait, 382 
Chavez, see Echave 
Chihuahua, 490 

executions in, 56 
Choir, Puebla, 381 
Cholula, town, 393 

massacre, 45 

pyramid, 394 
Chorro, spring, 451 
Christians, first, 20 
Chroniclers, 35 
Church, 19 

beautiful, 489 

collegiate, 297 

Comonfort and the, 65 

first, 20 

first blow at, 63 

first, Cit. Mex., 171, 173 

large, 465 

visiting, 92 
Chiirches, City of Mexico : 

Ana, Santa, 183 

Animas, Chapel, 170 

Antonio Abad, San, 217 

Balvanera, La, 223 

Belen de los Padres, 213 

Bernardo San, 235 

Brigida, Santa, 237 



512 



INDEX. 



Churches, City of Mexico : 

Camilo, San (Seminario), 221 

Caridad, La, 239 

Carmen, El, 214 

CataHna de Sena, Sta., 226 

Catarina Martir, Sta., 183 

Cathedral, 165 

Clara, Sta., 223 

Colegio de las Mfias, 220 

Concepcion, La, 221 

Corpus Christi, 236 

Cosme, San, 178 

Crnz Acatlan, Sta., 177 

Cruz y Soledad, Sta., 177 

Diego, San, 213 

Domingo, Santo, 200 

Encarnacion, La, 228 

Ensenanza, La, 238 

Fernando, San, 220 

Felipe de Jesus, San, 169 

Francisco, San, 188 

Gerdnimo, San, 225 

Hipolifco, San, 206 

Hospital Real (Protestant) 255 

Ines, S. (SagradoCorazon), 229 

Jesus Maria, 224 

Jesus Nazareno, 240 

Jose', San, 184 

Josede GraciaS. (Prot.), 230 

Juan de Dios, San, 216 

Juan de la Penitencias, 226 

Lazaro, San, 216 

Lorenzo, San, 229 

Loreto, 208 

Maria de los Angeles, Sta., 244 

Maria la Redonda, Sta. , 175 

Miguel, San, 184 

Monserrate, 215 

Pablo, San, 174 

Palma, Santo Tomas la. 178 

Porta Coeli, 201 

Profesa, La, 217 

Regina Coeli, 184 

Sagrario, 172 

Salto del Agua, 246 

Santiago Tlaltelolco, 199 

Santisima, La, 245 

Sagrado Corazon (S. Ines), 229 

Sebastian, San, 175 

Seminario (San Camilo), 221 

Soledad, chapel, 174 

Teresa la Antigua, Sta. 231 

Teresa la Nueva, Sta, 235 

Tomas la Palma, Santo, 178 

Vera Cruz, Sta., 176 



Churches, independent, 246 

Protestant, 29 

Protestant, services in, 124 
Churches, parish, City of Mexico, 

171 
Churches, Puebla: 

Antonio, San, 389 

Calvario, 389 

Cathedral, 379 

Clara, Santa, 389 

Compania, La, 387 

Cristobal, San, 388 

Felipe de Jesus, S., 389 

Francisco, San, 384 

Jesus Nazareno, 389 

Jose, San, 389 

Luz, La, 389 

Sagrario, 383 

Soledad, La, 389 
Churrigueresque, dehnition, 173 
Churubusco, 309 

battle of, 64 

tramway to, 121 
Cigars, duties on, 84 

manufacture of, 11 
Cinco de Mayo, festival, 19, 

battle, 68, 374 

fort, 376 

library, 147 

picture, 141 
Cintura Railway, S62 
Circu^lating libraries, 109 
Circus, 271 
Citadel, Cit. of Max., 143 

Monterey, 473 
Citizenship, 16 
Cityof Mexico, 134 

Calzadas (causeways), 126, 
280 

churches (see above) 

City Hall, 136 

Climate, 134 

French occupy, 69 

government, 137 

markets, 137 

population, 136 
Scott captures, 64 
siege of, 45 
streets, list of, 1 25 
water-supply, 136 
Cindadela, 142 
Claim of the pies, 67 
Clara Maria, 212 
Clara, Santa, 223 
Climate, 4, 77 



INDEX. 



513 



Clothing, 89 
Cloth, cotton, 9 

woollen, 9 
Coaches, hackney, 94, 101 

City of Mexico, 112 
Coal, 9 

Coastwise lines, 368 
Coatepec Valley, 438 
Cobbler, 108 
CollVe of Uruapam, 8 
Cofre de Perote, 8, 434 
Coinage, 144 
Coincho, baths, 463 
Coins, Mexican, 81 
Colegio de la Paz, 367 

de las nifias, 220 

de S. Nicolas, 461 
College, medical, 251 
Colleges, City of Mexico, 247 
Collegiate church, 297 
Columbus monument, 285 
Commerce, foreign, 11, 432 

Vera Cruz, 11, 432 
Committee of Regency, 58 
Comonfort and Franciscans, 197 
Comonfort, treachery of, 66 
Compaiila, La, Puebla, 387 
Concepcion, La, 221 
Congress, 17 

tirst, 58 
Conquest of Mexico, 41 
Conquest, standard, 43, 164, 208 
Conquistadora, La, 385 
Conservatorio de Miisica, 248 
Constitution, 15 

first, 56 

of 1824, 60 

of 1857, 65 
Convents, 23 
Copper, 8 
Copper-work, 464 
Cordoba, 493 

Treaty of, 58 
Cora, sculptor, 381 
Corpus Christi, 236 
Corsairs, English, 48 
Cortes, burial of, 243 

church founded by, 240 

Coyoacan, in, 307 

Cuernavaca, in, 477, 478 

descendants of, 42 

fleet of, 43 

hospital founded by, 254 

landing of, 44 

meeting Montezuma, 280 



Cortt's, parents of, 42 

portrait of, 164 
Cosnie, San, 178 
Cost of travel, 79 
Cotton country, 345 

cloth, 9 
Court, Federal, 142 
Courts of Law, 18 
Coyoacan, 307 

tramway to, 121 
Cristobal, S. Paebla, 388 
Cross of Queretaro, 4'Jo, 428 
Cruces, Las, battle, 355 
Cruces, Monte de las, 354 
Cruz del Marques, 476 
Cruz, Juan a Ines de la, 36, 226, 

365. 484 
Cruz y Soledad, Sta., 177 
Cuatlenchan, 327 
Cuatla la Morelos, 494 
Cuernavaca, 475 
Cuitzeo, Lake, 7, 358 
Cuna, La, 263 
Currency, 80 
Custom house, 83, 142 
Cutlery, manufactured, 11 

to buy, 109 

Dark Cell, 453 
Dead, street of the, 323 
Deaf and dumb school, 269 
Debt, English, 67, 75, 76 

foreign, 67 
Defensa, La, 381 
Deputies, Chamber of, 17, 141 
Desierto, El, 320 
Dialects, native, 34 
Diaz, Porfirio, at Puebla, 375 

provisional president, 74 

re-elected president, 75 

revolt of, 73 
Diego, Juan, font, 184 

vision of, 290 
Diego, San, 213 
Dieguinos, 213 
Diligence, City of Mexico, 112 

lines, 368, 369 

Saltillo, 78 

San Isidro, 78 
Diputacion, 136 
Discalced Franciscans, 213 
Divino Salvador, Hospital, 260 
Divisions, political, 13 
Doctors, 89 
Dolores, cemetery, 289 



514 



INDEX. 



Dolores, Grito de, 55 

tramway to, 119 
Domingo, Santo, 200 
Dominicans, 23 
Dominican Order, 200 
Dona Maria's. 415 
Doniphan's advance, 64 
Drafts, 80 

Drain, Nochistongo, 328 
Drake, Sir Francis, 4i> 
Drawn-work, 109 
Dress, 89 
Dry season, 5 
Dulces (sweets), 89 

Celaya, 488 

City of Mexico, 109 

Morelia, 455 
Durango, diligen.ee, 369 
Dutiable articles, 83 
Dyke of Saa Cristobal, 329 

Eating, 87 

Echave, pictures by, 152, 38S 

Education, 32 

City of Mexico, 247 

Puebla, 377 
El Paso, town, 97 
Empire, first, 59 

second, 69 
Encarnacion, bridge, 347, 350 

church, 228 

town, 347 
Engineers, mining, 443 
England, trade with, 12, 13 
English cemetery, 289 

corsairs, 48 

debt, 67, 75, 7& 
Ensenanza, La., 238 
Envoy, U. S., 123 
Episcopal church, 134 
Escuela de Medicina, 25i 

Preparatoria, 251 
Espiracion, chapel, 201 
Espiritu Santo, 208 
Eulalia, Sta., mine, 491^ 493 
Excavations, 467 
Exercise, 87 
Exchange, 80 
Excursion cars, 117 
Expenses, 79 
Exports, 12, 13 
Express, City of Mexico, 113 

local, 101 

service, 96 
Extra baggage, 96 



Fair, Aguas Calientes, 410 

Jalapa, 435 
Fairlie locomotive, 335 
Feast days, 19 
Feasting sick people, 257 
Federal Court, 142 

Government, 17 
Fees, 87, 90 
Festivals, national, 19 
Felipe de Jesus, S. church, 195 

relics of, 169 
: Fernandinos, order, 320 
; Fernando, San, 320 

cemetery, 289 
Fifth of May, 19, 68 

battle, 374 

picture, 141 
Fighting monks, 211 
J^iuancier, The Mexicarty 110 
. Fine Arts, Puebla, 378 

School, Cit. Mex.,147 
Fire, God of, 162 
First church, 20 

pulpit, 400 
Flag, Mexican, 57 
Flat arch, 384 
Fleet to Spain, 51 
Flor de Maria, 357 
Flores, Molino de, 336 
Flower market, 138 
Fondas, 91 

Font, Juan Diego, 184 
Food, 86 
Foot-marks, 483 
Foreign commerce, 11 
Foreign debt, 67 

legations, 133 
Foreigners, rights of, 16 
Forey, Marshal, 69 
Fort, black, 473 

Cinco de Mayo, 374 

Guadalupe, 376 - 
Founding Acambaro, 487 
Foundling Asylum, 263 
Fountain, enchanted, 315 
Fourth of July celebration, 333 
; France and United States, 70 

trasde with, 12, 13 
Franciscan, Order, 189 
Franciscanos descalzos, 180 
Franciscans, 23 

conspiracy, 65, 197 
Francisco, S., ch. Chihuahua, 491 

City of Mexico, 39, 188 

Puebla, 384 



INDEX. 



515 



Francisco, S., Texcoco, 324 
Free list, 83 

Fremont in California, 64 
French at Vera Cruz, 07, 68 

cemetery, 289 

intervention, 67 
FresniUo, 47, 346 
Friends' Mission, 32 
Fruits, 8 

Gaceta de Mexico, La., 50 

Gachupina, La, 450 

Gage, Thomas, 320 

Gante, Fr. Pedro de, 20, 171 

Garcia (Pesqueria), 474 

Germany, trade with, 12, 13 

Geronimo, San, 225 

Gold, 8 

Goliad, massacre, 62 

Gonzalez, impeachment, 75 

President, 74 
Good Friday, Amecameca, 482 
Gothic church, 452 
Government, 15 

offices, 141 

officials, 123 
Grant in church tower, 179 

lodgings, Cit. Mex,, 251 

on Mexican war, 303 
Gregorio, San, 209 
Grijalva, landing, 41, 431 
Grito de Dolores, 55 
Guadalajara, diligence, 369 
Guadalupe, aqueduct, 49 

banner, 164 

calzada, 457 

festivals, 294 

fort, 374 

Guanajuato, 420 

-Hidalgo, 300 

treaty of, 64 

in politics, 298 

legend, 290 

picture, 296 

shrine, 295 

spring, 298 

springs, 478 

tramway to, 118 

Zacatecas, 407 
Guanajuato, 414 

Hidalgo at, 55 
Guarantees, the Three, 57 
Guarda, El, 475 
Guatimotzin, bust, 278 

monument, 285 



Guatimotzin, tortured, 46 
Guaymas, 496 

steamers from, 368 
Guercino, 153 
Guerrero monument, 279 

portrait, 141 

statue, 286 
Guides, 107 
Guide, 153 
Guzman, Nufio de, 469 

Hackney coaches, 94, 101 

Cit. Mex., 112 
Hall of Ambassadors, 141 
Hand-marks, 483 
Hands, tree of the little, 506 
Harbors, 5 
Hardware, manufactured, 11 

to buy, 109 
Hat stores, 108 
Heights, cities, 4 

mountain, 6 
Henequen, export, 13, 13 
Hercules mill, 422 
Hidalgo at Acambaro, 488 

at Guanajuato, 55 

at Morelia, 55 

conspiracy of, 55 

execution of, 56, 493 

head, 418 

Liceo, 38 

portrait, 141 

relics, 164 

statue, 417 

theatre, 271 

tomb, 169 
Hipolito, San, 206 

hospital, 256 
Hipolitos, order, 257 
Historians, 35 
Historical summary, 41 
Historic houses, 286 
Horses, saddle, 113 
Hospicio de Pobres, 264 
Hospital, American, 263 

Concepcion Beistigui, 263 

Divino Salvador, 260 

French, 263 

Jesus Nazareno, 254 

Juarez, 261 

Lying-in, 263 

Morelos, 358 

Municipal, 261 

Real, 255 

San Andres, 361 



516 



INDEX. 



Hospital, San Hipclito, 256 

San Juan de Dios, 258 

San Pablo, 261 

Spanish, 263 
Hotel rates, 79 

Yturbide, 287 
Hotels, 91 

Puebla, 370 

City of Mexico, 103 
Houses, notable, 286 
House, tiled, 288 
Huitzilopocbtli, idol, 157 

shrine, 309 
Humboldt, house, 288 

Ibarra, pictures, 152, 383 
Iguala, Plan of, 57, 69 
Iguatzio, 468 
Illness, 89 
Imports, 11 
Imprisonment, 15 
Ines Santa, 229 
Independence, first martyr, 54 

first step toward, 53 

monument, 275 
Independent Mexico, 58 
Indian girls, convent, 336 
Indians, terrified, 469 
Indio Triste, 159 
Inquisition, the, 25 
Insane asylum, 260 
International Rwy., 368 
Interoceanic Rwy., 362 
Intervention, French, 67 
Interpreters, 107 
Inundation, great, 328 
Invalids, wintering place, 410 
Irolo, 338 
Iron, 8 

Isabel, see Ysabel 
Iturbide, see Yturbide 
Iturrigaray, Viceroy, 54 
Ixtacalco, 318 
Ixtaccihuatl, height, 6 

Jalapa, 433 

railway to, 340 
Jesuit schools, 251 
Jesuits, arrival, 47, 208 

suppressions, 24, 51, 209 

teachers, 23 
Jesus Maria, 224 
Jesus Nazareno, church, 240 

hospital, 254 
Jilotepec, 435 



Jimenez, execution, 56, 493 

head, 418* 

tomb, 169 
Jose, San, 184 

de Gracia, S., 230 

el Real, S., 217 

S. de los Naturales, 185 
Juan de Dios, San ch. , 216 

de Dios, S. hospital, 258 

de la Penitencia, S. , 226 
Juarez, death, 73 

enters Mexico, 13 

hospital, 261 

monument, 286 

policy, 73 

portrait, 141 

President, 66 

railway and telegraph, 73 

re-elected President, 73 

second re-election, 73 
Juarez Brothers, artists, 151 
Judiciary, 18 
Jurisprudence, school, 353 

Key-stones, hanging, 474 
Kilometres and miles, 83 

La Barca, diligence, 369 
Lagos, 497 
Laja, canon, 358 
La Joya, 336 
Lake Cuitzeo, 358 

Patzcuaro, 360 
Lakes, 7 
Lampazos, 353 
Lancasterian Society, 253 
Language, 34 
La Paz, steamer to, 368 
Laredo, 352 
Las Casas, 47 

picture, 154 
Las Cruces, battle, 56 
Latin, logic, and philosophy, 199 
Laws of Reform, 24, 66, 73 
Lawyer made Bishop, 469 
Lazaro, San, 216 

dyke, 47 
Lead, 9 

League, measure, 81 
Leather work, 11, 413 
Legations, foreign, 123 
Legend, Malinche, 314 
Legs of San Sebastian, 483 
Legua, measure, 81 
Leon, 411 



INDEX. 



517 



Leonardo, 153 
Leon, Patroness of, 413 
Lerdo, President, 73 
Villa, 345 
Lerma, river, 355 

town, 356 
Lestonac, Jeanne de, 238 
Letters, 94, 111 
Libraries, 34, 109, 147 
Library, Cinco de Mayo, 147 

National, 144 

Paebla, 377 
Liceo Hidalgo, 38 
Lightning Saint, 389 
Literature, 35 
Liturgy, Mozarabic, 29 
Llave monument, 437 
Local express, 101 
Locomotive, Fairlie, 335 
Locusts, plague of, 500 
Lodgings, City of Mexico, 106 
Lopez, hospitals founded, 259 
Lorenzana, bishop, 29 

hospital founded, 263 
Lorenzo, San, 229 
Loreto, Santa Casa de, 452 

cerro del, 374 

Ustra Sta, de, 208 
Los Remedies, 445 

legend, 448, 
Luggage, City of Mexico, 102 

extra, 96, 333, 344, 352, 363 
Lunch-basket, 86 
Lying-in Hospital, 262 

Macao, bronze from, 168 
Mad women cared for, 260 
Mail, 94, 111 
Maltrata, 336 
Manufactures, 9 
Manterola, Ramon, 40 
MaazaniHo, steamer to, 363 
Mapimi, Bolson de, 6, 345 
Maps, government, 434 
Maravatio, 498 
Marfil, town, 420 
Maria la Redonda, Sta., 175 
Marina, La, 44 
Market, flower, 138 
Markets, City of Mexico, 137 
Marquetry, 381 
Martinez, engineer, 328 

monument, 276 
Mass, first, 20 
Masses, 45, 171, 324 



Matamoras, execution, 457 

portrait, 141 
Matamoras, diligence, 346 

occupied, 63 
May, Fifth of festival, 19 

battle, 68, 374 
Mazatlan, steamer to, 368 
Maximilian, arrival, 69 

burial place, 436 

crowned, 69 

execution, 73, 435 

poUcy of, 69, 70 

prisoner, 72 

prison of, 425 

relics, 164, 426 

shot at, 431 

tendered crown, 69 

trial, 434 
Measures, Mexican, 81 
MedeUin, 433 

Medina, Bartolome de, 443 
Medicina, Escuela de, 251 
Medicine, 89 
Medical school, first, 256 
Mejia (Mexia), execution, 73, 435 

trial, 434 
Mending, 108 
Mendoza, Viceroy, 46 
Mercedarians, order, 310 
Merced, La, 310 
Merida, 499 

Mesa, de los Cartujanos, 353 
Mescal, 11 

Methodist church, 31, 134 
Metlac ravine, 335 
Mexicaloingo, 319 
Mexican breakfast, 105 

Financier^ The, 110 

flag, 57 

government officials, 133 

measures, 81 

States, 14 

war, the, 63 
Mexican Railway, 333 

history, 340 

opening, 73 
Mexican Central Railway, 343 

history, 349 

opened, 75 
Mexican National Railway, 351 

history, 359 
Mexico, City of, 134 

siege of, 45 

climate, 4 
Mexico, coast of, 5 



513 



IJN^DEX. 



Mexico, conquest of, 44 

discovery of, 41 

harbors, 5 

limits of, 3 

physical features, 3 

primitive, 41 

routes to, 78 

when to go to, 77 
" Michael Angelo, of Mexico," 490 
Michoacan, City of, 470 
Miguel, San, ch., 184 
Miles and kilometres, 82 
Military Academy, 303 

force, 18 
Milliner, 109 
Mineral del Oro, 357 

products, 8 
Mineria, La, 249 
Mine, Sta. Eulalia, 344, 491, 492 
Mines, 8 

Mining, school of, 442 
Minister, U. S., 123 
Mint, City of Mexico, 142 

Guanajuato, 418 

Zacatecas, 406 
Miramon, defeat, 71 

execution, 72, 425 

trial, 424 
Missionaries, 20 
Missions, Protestant, 30 
Mitras, Cerro de las, 472 
Mixcoac, 305 

tramway to, 119, 120 
Molino de Flores, 326 

del Rey, 3G3 

del Rey, affair of, 64 
Monclova, 366 

founding of, 49 
Money, buying, 80 

Mexican, 80 
Monks, 23 

fighting, 211 

theatrical, 255 
Monserrate, Nstra. Sra. de, 215 
Monte de las Cruces, 354 
Monte de Piedad, 265 

collapse of, 74 
Monterey, 470 

capture, 64 
Montezuma, Cerro de, 451 
Montezuma's bath, 325 

new house, 140 
Monument, Ahnitzotl, 301 

Charles IV., 283 

Columbus, 285 



Monument, Guatimotzin, 278, 285 

Guerrero, 279, 286 

Independence, 275 

Juarez, 286 

Llave, 437 

Martinez, 276 

Morelos, 286 

Pius IX., 379 
Monuments, 2S3 
Moon, pyramid, 321 
Morelia, 445 

Hidalgo at, 55 
Morelos, born, 458 

at Cuautla, 56 

execution, 29, 56 

hospital, 258 

name to Morelia, 463 

portrait, 141 

statue, 286 
Mountain altitudes, 6 
Mozarabic Liturgy, 29 
Municipal Hospital, 261 
Murillo, 152, 170 
Musa Mexicana, 484 
Museo Nacional, 155 
Museums, 34 
Miisica, Conservatorio de, 248 

Nacional, Theatre, 270 
Naphtha, 9 

Napoleon, back-down, 70 
National Archives, 147 

bridge, 54 

festivals, 19 

library, 144 

museum, 155 

palace, 140 

railway, 351 
Native dialects, 34 
Navy, 18 

Neapolitan head-dress, 494 
Neri, Felipe, S. Congregacion, 

218 
Netzahualcoyotl, 35, 323, 325 
Nevado de Toluca, 506 
Newspapers, 34, 50, 110 
New Mexico, conquest, 48 
Nickel riots, 74, 81 
Nicolas, Colegio de San, 461 
Noche Triste, defeat, 45 

memorial, 207 

tree, 122, 312 
Nochistongo, drain, 328 
Nuevo, Paseo, 279 
Nun, royal, 225 



INDEX, 



519 



Obispabo Vie.to, 473 
Ochoa, General, 484 
Ocotlan, Santuario, 401 
Officials, government, 133 
Old books, 110, 139 
"Old" tower, 380 
Olive-trees, hu-ge, 467 
Ojo de Agua, 473 
Oratorians, 318 
Orchids, 436 
Orders, religious, 23 
Ordnance survey, 434 
Orfanatorio at Zacatecas, 408 
Organ, old, 506 
Orizaba, height, 6 

town, 436 
Orozco y Berra, history, 163 
Ortiz, Dona Josefa, 55 
Otumba, 338 
Overcoats, 89 
Ox-cart (Aparicio), 385 

Pablo, San, ch., 174 

hospital, 261 
Pachuca, 441 
Padierna, aflfair of, 64 
Palacio de Justicia, 143 

Nacional, 140 
Palo Alto, skirmish, 63 
Panteones, 389 
Parian, El, 374 

sacking of, 375 
Parish churches, Cit. Max., 171 

priests, 94 
Parra, Felix, 154 
Parras, wine, 471, 501 
Parties, political, 60 
Paseo de Bucareli, 379 

Nuevo, 379 

del Pendon, SOS 

de la Ref orma, 379 

de la Viga, 278 
Paso del Norte, 97 
Passage, concealed, 460, 468 
Passes, 93 
Passion play, 483 
Passports, 83 
Patio process, 346, 406 

invention, 47, 443 
Patriots, 56 
Patroness of Leon, 413 
Pawn-shop, national, 365 
Patzcuaro, citv, 463 

lake, 7, 359, 466 
Pedregal, El, 308 



Pcdregal, El, Scott crosses, 64 
Pedro de Gante, Fr., 30 
Pedro S. and S, Pablo, 309 
Penitentiary, Morelia, 456 
Pensacola, founding, 49 
Pesqueria (Garcia), 474 
Permits, 93 
Petroleum, 9 
Picture by Titian, 467 

commemorative, 181 
Pictures, Cit. Mex., 147 

Puebla, 383 
Piedad, La, 316 

tramway to, 120 
Pies, claim of the, 67 
Pig, Mexican, 453 
Pirates, English, 48 
Philharmonic Society, 371 
Pilgrims, Amecameca, 483 
Pius IX. monument, 379 
Plan of Igaala, 57, 69 

La Noria, 73 

Tuxtepec, 74 
Plains, 6 
Platina, 8 
Plaza Mayor, City of Mexico, 373 

del Seminario, 376 
Pocket of Mapiml, 6, 345 
Poetess, Mexican, 484 
Poets, 35 
Political divisions, 13 

parties, 60 
Politics, Virgin in, 450 
Poor-house, 264 
Popocatepetl, height, 6 

ascent of, 484 
Popotla, 313 
Population, 14 
Porta Coeli, 301 
Portales, 139 
Porters (cargadores), 90 
Ports, 5 

Postal regulations, 94, 111 
Post-office, 94, 111 
Potrero, the, 474 
Pottery, 10 

to buy, 108 

Zacatecas, 406 
Preparatory school, 251 
Presbyterians, 31 
President, 17 

calling on, 133 

first, 60 
Presidential succession, 18 
Pretty girls, college of the, 339 



520 



IISTDEX. 



Price, Gen., advance of, 64 
Priestly aid, 93 
Prieto Guiilermo, 37 
Prim, General, 68 
Principal, theatre, 269 
Printing-press, first, 46 
Prisons, City of Mexico, 139 
Profesa, La, 217 
Protestant churches, 124 
Protestantism, 29 
Proverbs at Jalapa, 434 
Puebla de Jos Angeles, 370 

a walk in, 378 

battle of, 19, 68, 374 

cathedral, 379 

charities, 378 

Diaz captures, 71 

education, 377 

fine arts, 378 

French capture, 69 

history, 389 

railway to, 339 

Scott captures, 64 

view near, 375 
Pueblito, Nstra. Sra. del, 428 
Puente Nacional, 54 
Pulpit, first, 400 
Pulque, 11, 88, 337 
Purlsima, bridge, 472 
Pyramids, Sun, Moon, 321 

QUERETARO, 421 

siege of, 71 
Queraadero, 26, 277 
Quetzalcoatl, 161 
Quicksilver, 9 
Quiroga, Bishop, 469 

bones of, 465 

Rainy season, 5 
Rail-route to Mexico, 77 
Railway eating houses, 86 
Railway, Cintura, 362 

International, 366 

Interoceanic, 362 

Mexican, 333 

Mexican National, 351 

Sonora, 366 

subsidies, 76 
Railways, City of Mexico, 112 

minor, 366 

street. City of Mexico, 113 
Rats for food, 496 
Real del Monte. 443 
Reboso, definition, 412 



Reforma, Paseo de la, 279 
Reformation, the, 24 
Reform, Laws of the, 24 
made constitutional, 73 
proclaimed, 66 
Regency, 58 
Regina Coeli, 184 
Regla, Conde de, 255 
Relics, Puebla, 382 
Religion, 19 

Religious foundations, 164 
orders, 23 
suppression, 24 
Remedios, Los, 445 
Resaca de la Palma, skirmish, 63 
Restaurants, 91 

City of Mexico, 103 
Revillagigedo, Viceroy, 51 

reforms by, 274 
Revolution, first, 61 
Revolutionary period, 53 
Rincon Grande, 4f]6 
Rio Grande crossed, 63 
Riot, Nickel, 74 
of 1692, 273 
Parian, 275 
Rivera, 153 
Rivers, 7 

Roman Catholic Church, 19 
Routes to Mexico, 78 
Royal nun, 225 
Rubens, 152 
Ruins at Xochicalco, 479 

Sacramento, battle, 64, 493 

Sacrificial stone, 157 

Sacro Monte, 480 

Saddle-horses, 113 

Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, 229 

Sagrario, 173 

Salm-Salm, Princess, 425 

Salon de Conciertos, 271 

Salt, 9 

Saltillo, 501 

diligence from, 78 
Salto de Alvarado, 290 
Salto del Agua, church, 246 

fountain, 282 
Salvatierra, 502 
Sanctuary, right of, 183, 184 
San Angel, town, 305 

tramway to, 120, 121 
San Bias, steamer to, 368 
San Carlos Academy, 147 
San Cristobal, dyke, 329 



INDEX. 



521 



San Isiiiro, town, 846 

diligence from, 78 
San Juan de los Llanos, rwy. to, 371 
San Juan Teotihuacan, town, 321 
San Luis Potosi. diligence, 309 
San Mdrcos, railway to, 371 
Sail Miguel de Alleude, town, 450 
Santa Anita, town, 318 _ 
Santa Anna, dictator, 65 

revolt of, 61 
Santa Eulalia mine, 344, 491, 492 
S.inta Fe trail. 493 
Santiago Tlaltelolco, eh., 199 
Santisima, ch., 245 
Santo Intierro, image, 481 
Sarapes, see Zarapes 
School, blind, 269 

business, 253 

correctional, 263 

deaf and dumb, 269 

jurisprudence, 353 

preparatory, 251 

trade, 269 
Schools, 32 

City of Mexico, 247 
Scott's advance, 64 
Sculptor, Indian, 403 
Sea-ports, 5 

Sea-route to Mexico, 78 
Sebastian, San, 175 
Seminario Conciliar, 253 

plaza del, 276 
Senate, 17 

Senor de Burgos, 194 
Senor de Sta. Teresa, 233 
September 16th, 55 
Serapes, see Zarapes 
Serpent worship, 160 
Servants, 90 
Seward at Queretaro, 434 

letter of, 70 
Shackles, cast oflf, 461 
Shoemaker, 108 
Shopping, 139, 266 

City of Mexico, 107 

Puebla, 371 
Shrines, visiting, 98 
Sickness, 89 
Sierra Madre, 4 
Silao, 503 

SiUa. Cerro de la, 473 
Sillas, Las, 464 
Sinking church, 210 
Silver, 8 

currency, 80 



Silver, jewelry, 109 
Slidell, special envoy, G3 
Social organization, 53 
Sociedad Filarmonica, 271 

Catolica, 254 
Soledad, Capilla de la, 174 
Sonora Railway, 366 
Spagnoletto, 153 
Spanish tongue, 34 
Spain, trade with, 12, 18 
Spring, miraculous, 464 
Springs of Guadalupe, 478 
Stamps, postage, 1)4, 111 
Standard of the Conquest, 43 
State government, 13 
States, Mexican, 14 
Steamljoat (Patzcuaro), 466 
Steamers, coastwise, 368 
Stone, calendar, 156 

of the sun, 156 

sacrificial, 157 
Street of the dead, 323 
Street Railways, Cit. Mex., 113 
Streets, City of Mexico, 125 
Subsidies stopped, 76 
Subterranean way, 460, 468 
Suburban tramways, 116 
Sugar, 10 

haciendas, 478, 495 
Sumaya, La, 148, 169 
Sun, pyramid of the, 331 

stone of the, 156 
Suppression of religious orders, 24 
Survey, ordnance, 434 
Sweetmeats, 89 

to buy, 109 

Table-land, 4 
Tacubaya, 304 

tramway to, 119 
Tacuba, 313 

tramway to, 123 
Tailor, 108 

Tailors, alcaldes of the, 246 
Tajo de Nochistongo, 328 
Tampico, steamer to, 368 
Tapestry, Puebla, 382 
Tarascan chief, 467, 488 
Taylor's advance, 63 
Taxation, 18 
Tecajic, shrine, 506 
Telegraph, 95 

City of Mexico, 113 
Temisco, 478 
Tenochtitlan, city, 134 



522 



INDEX. 



Tenochtitlan, siege of, 45 

Cortes enters, 45 
Teoyaomiqui, idol, 157 
Tercer Orden. 194 
Teresa la Antigua, Sta., 331 

la Nueva, Sta. 235 
Terreros, miner, 444 
Terrified Indians, 469 
Tetzcotzinco, 325 
Texas, conquest of, 49 

Republic of, 62 

State of, 62 

revolt of, 62 
Texcoco, 323 
Tierra Caliente, 5 

Fria, 5 

Templada, 5 
Tiled house, 288 
Tiles, Fuebla, 372 
Tin, 9 

Titian, picture by, 467 
Thanksgiving Day, 410 
Theatres, City of Mexico, 269 

Puebla, 373 
Theatrical Monks, 255 
Thermometer readings, 5 
Theological Seminary, 253 
Thomas, Saint, 161 
"Three Guarantees," 57 
Tlalnepantla, 327 

tramway to, 122 
Tlalpam, 311 

tramway to, 121 
Tlaltelolco, Santiago, 199 
Tlamacas, 485 
Tlaxcala, 397 

Tlaxcalans, fights with, 45 
Tolsa, Manuel, 149 
Toltec remains, 507 
Toluca, 503 

Tomas la Palm a, Sto. , 178 
Tomb of bishops, 381 
Tonantzin, goddess, 290 
Trade, foreign, 11 
Tramways, City of Mexico, 113 

suburban, 116 

Zacatecas, 407 
Treaty, Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 64, 300 

La Soledad, 68 

London, 67 
Tree of the Noche Triste, 312 

of the Little Hands, 506 
Tresguerras, architect, 489 
Trunk-mending. 108 
Tula, 506 



Tultenango, canon, 357 
Turkey eating, 410 
Tuxpango, 436 
Tuxpan, steamer to, 368 
Tuxtepec, Plan of, 74 
'^ Twelve Apostles," 21 
Tzintziintzan, 463, 466 

Ulua, S. Juan de, 480 
Underground passage, 460, 468 
United States and France, 70 

minister, 123 

trade with, 12, 13 

war with, 62 
University of Mexico, 248, 461 

Tiripitio, 461 
Uxmal, 499 

Vaccara, Andrea, 153 
Valencia, Fr. Martin de, 480 
Valladolid (Morelia), 462 
Vallejo, pictures by, 214, 249, 252 
Van Dyke, J 53 
Vara, measure, 81 
Vegetable products, 8 
Veils, Lord of the Seven, 176 
Velasco, Viceroy, 47 
Velazquez, 153 
Vera, author, 484 
Vera Cruz, Santa, ch,, 176 
Vera Cruz, city, 429 

executions in, 74 

French at, 67, 68 

founding of, 44 

Scott captures, 64 
Verdad, Licenciado, 54 
Viceregal period, 46 
Viceroy and Archbishop, 48 

eccentric, 51 
Viceroys, portraits, 164 
View at Amecameca, 480 

at Coatepec, 433 

at Puebla, 375 
Viga, canal, 317 

paseo de la, 278 
Vilar, 154 
Villa Lerdo, 345 
Virgin, Mexican, 450 

in politics, 450 

Spanish, 450 
Vizcainas, 267 
Volador, market, 137 
Vultures, Vera Cruz, 430 

War with United States, 63 
Watch-mending, 108 



INDEX. 



523 



Water-clock, heavenly, 222 

falls, 436 

melon, mayor, 365 

supply, 282 

works, abortive, 447 
Wells, artesian, 282 
Wells, Fargo & Co., 96 
Wine, 88 

of Parras, 471,501 
Writers, 35 
Wood-carving, 381 
WooUen cloth, 9 

XiCACA, goddess, 327 
Xanicho, 466 
Xaracuaro, 466 
Xochicalco, 479 

Yautepec, 365, 496 
Yguala, see Iguala 
Yldefonso, San, 251 
Yngenio, the, 436 
Ysabel, Sta., 239 



Yturbide, born, 458 

emperor, 59 

execution, 60 

funeral, 189 

portrait, 141 

memorial, 484 

sketch of, 57 

tomb, 169 
Yturbide, hotel. 287 
Yucatan, bishopric of, 21 

conquest of. 499 

discovery of, 19 

Zacatecas, 404 
Zaragoza, Gen., 374 
Zarapes, 10 

to buy, 108, 408 
Zempoala, arcos de, 363 
Zendejas, last picture, 384 
Zdcalo, garden, 275 
Zopilotes, canon, 357 
Zumarraga, bishop, 21 

tomb, 170 



[The Mexican' Guide has received the official endorse- 
ment of the Jlexican Government (see extract from the 
Di\Rio Ofici-\l below), the ivarm commendation of the 
newspaper press of Mexico and the United States, the 
substantial approval of the traveling public. It is the 
only practical, accurate guide-book to Mexico.Ji 



From the DiARIO OFICIAL (April 16, 1886), the official organ 
of the Mexican Federal Government : 

^'TJie Mexican Guide, escrita en idioma ingles j destinada 4 los 
viajeros que visiten la capital, es un libro qne merece especial 
recomendacion por la abundancia j exactitud de sus noticias, colec- 
cionadas con especiales buen juicio y laboriosidad. Acompaiian d 
este libro un piano de la ciudad de Mexico y otro de los alrededores 
de la capital exactos y con utiles indicaciones. Recomendamos la 
adquisicion de dicha Guia." 

[translation.] 

'^TIw Mexican Guide, written in English and destined for the 
use of travelers who visit Mexico, is a book that merits especial 
commendation because of the fullness and exactness of the facts 
which it presents, and the judgment and care shown in its prep- 
aration. The book is accompanied by a map of the City of Mexico 
and one of its environs, both exact and useful. We recommend 
the purchase of this guide." 



From El Partido LIBERAL (April 13, 1886), the organ of 
the Mexican Liberal Party [translation] : 

' ' This book gives complete instructions to persons traveling in 
Mexico who do not understand Spanish ; and in addition to this 
describes carefully and exactly all places that strangers should 
visit. The book is absolutely trustworthy in its historical notices, 
as well as in its practical information, and as until now no book at 



all of its kind has been published in English strangers traveling- 
in Mexico will find it extremely useful and valuable. Two excel- 
lent maps accompany the work." 



From El Tiempo (April 14, 1886), the organ of the Mexican 
Conservative and Clerical Parties [trajstslation] : 

' * This is a valuable book that we have looked over with much 
pleasure, because we have found in it exact and most intimate 
knowledge of contemporary affairs and historical events ; such as 
has been presented in no other guide and which scarcely was to be 
expected in a book written by a foreigner. English-speaking trav- 
elers in Mexico will find in Seiior Janvier's guide all the practical 
information most useful for travel in this country ; and in addition 
will find the answers to almost all the questions that could be asked 
by any intelligent traveler interested in Mexican history." 



From El ECONOMISTA Mexicana (April 15, i885), the lead- 
ing commercial periodical (in Spanish) published in Mex- 
ico [translation] : 

*' Senor Thomas A. Janvier has just published in New York a 
new guide to Mexico that merits, both for its appearance and con- 
tents, the attention of travelers coming to visit our Republic ; and 
also such persons as desire through the medium of an agreeable and 
attractive book to become acquainted with Mexico. We do not 
hesitate to assert that even Mexicans will find in this book much 
curious and interesting information." 



From The MEXICAN FINANCIER (April 10, 1886), published 
in English and Spanish, the -leading financial and com- 
mercial newspaper of Mexico : 

" The Mexican Guide, by Thomas A. Janvier, published by 
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, supplies most admirably a want 
that the outpouring of English-speaking tourists into Mexico dur- 
ing the past two years has made very pressing. Until now, the 
only work of this nature that has been of any practical value to 



travelers in Mexico lias been Ferguson's little Anecdotical Guide, 
a pamplilet of 128 pages that had the misfortune to be published 
in 1876 — just ten years before it was wanted — and, never having 
been revised and republished, now is antiquated and of little use. 
The more imposing volume published by the Messrs. Appleton is 
rather a compendium of miscellaneous facts than a guide-book ; 
and, while it contains much interesting information concerning 
Mexico, it contains very little of the particular sort of information 
that travelers in Mexico require. Mr. Janvier's guide, therefore, 
has a clear field ; and it covers the field very satisfactorily. * * * 
The Messrs. Scribner announce that the book, as is customary with 
Baedeker and other first-class books of this nature, will be revised 
and republished annnally ; and this promise, in connection with the 
substantial and ample information that the book now contains, as- 
sures The Mexican Guide the position of the standard guide-book 
to Mexico, " 



From THE NATION (April 8, i886) : 

' ' One is slightly repelled by the apparent assumption in the title 
given this book. Perhaps, however, the use of the definite article 
is a sort of echo from the author's studies in the Spanish of his 
authorities, where it does not have the exclusive air which English 
gives it. * -2f * Once over this feeling of resenting what seems 
to be an undue claim of superiority and completeness, there is little 
but hearty praise to be given to Mr. Janvier's work. He has suc- 
ceeded in producing a happy combination of Baedeker and Murray, 
uniting the practical helpfulness of the former with the latter's 
tendency to supply artistic and historical details. There might 
seem, at times, to be a little too much of the last, as in the full 
accounts given of the various religious foundations, yet this is all 
so new (in English) and so good that it can readily be pardoned. 
In accuracy, in experienced suggestions, in genial and shrewd 
appreciation of the people and the country, Tlie Mexican Guide, 
within the limits noted, seems to us to be almost beyond criticism. 
Especially pleasant is it to note Mr. Janvier's high estimate of the 
artistic resources of Mexico — her churches, monuments and scenery, 
her people, their costumes and homes. This, of course, was to 



3 ^s^/df . l^/T^ifT r/^ 

have been expected at tlie hands of 'Ivory Black.' When Mr. 
Church conies to give us the results of his sketching trips in Mex- 
ico, to be added to what Mrs. Foote and her Bishop and, now, Mr. 
Janvier have written, we shall understand more of the picturesque 
charm which attaches in so high a degree to Mexico." 



From the Philadelphia TIMES: 

" Tourists in Mexico, whose number is constantly increasing, will 
be grateful for TJie Mexican Guide, by Thomas A. Janvier, a com- 
pact and clearly-printed little leather-covered volume just published 
by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. This guide-book has sev- 
eral unusual merits, not least of which is that the author has seen 
what he describes, * * * Along with these practical directions, 
based upon a residence in the country for several seasons, Mr. 
Janvier gives also a great deal of descriptive and historical infor- 
mation which has the very uncommon merit of sympathetic appre- 
ciation. He treats the people and their institutions and customs 
with respect, and the book abounds in little touches of gentle humor 
and artistic insight that make it very pleasant to read." 



From the New Orleans TiMES-DEMOCRAT; 

' ' The stranger adventuring for the first time to the land that 
though so near our doors is comparatively but little known, will 
find of invaluable assistance the information compiled and arranged 
in these three hundred pages by a traveler through Mexico who 
himself felt the need of just such counsel, suggestion and descrip- 
tion as he here offers for the benefit of future travelers." 



From the San Francisco CHRONICLE; 

" The need of an ample guide-book of Mexico has long been felt 
by travelers, and the one by Thomas A. Janvier, just published, 
ought to be warmly welcomed. The text is succinct and the des- 
criptions graphic, while of archasological and historical data there is 
sufficient to initiate the observer into the ^:^athways leading into 
deeper researches." a 



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MAP OF 

THE ENVIRONS 

OF THE 

OITT @F IffiXIO© 

Authorized for Publication with 

THE MEXICAN GUIDE 

By GENERAL CAitLOS PACHECO, 

Minister or Public "Works. 1883. 



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